Section 18. Every company shall conduct its business in the commonwealth in its corporate name and all policies and contracts, other than contracts of corporate suretyship, issued by it shall, except as provided in sections one hundred and two A, one hundred and two C, one hundred and ten C, one hundred and eleven A, one hundred and seventeen A and one hundred and seventeen B of this chapter and in section fifty-six of chapter one hundred and fifty-two, and except as otherwise provided herein, be headed or entitled only by such name. Two or more insurers under a common management who represent themselves to be or are customarily known as an insurance company group or similar insurance trade designation may, with the approval of the commissioner, head or entitle policies or contracts with the name of the group or similar trade designation or with the names of the individual members of the group; provided, that the company assuming the insurance is specifically identified.

When any such company publishes its assets it shall in the same connection and with equal conspicuousness publish its liabilities, both computed on the basis allowed for its annual statements, and any publication purporting to show its capital shall exhibit only the amount of such capital as has been actually paid in cash. Such publications shall be held to include all policies, renewals, signs, circulars, cards or other means by which public announcements are made.

A company or an officer or agent thereof who issues or circulates advertisements in violation of this section shall be punished by a fine of not less than fifty nor more than five hundred dollars.