(1) 

Terms Used In Utah Code 31A-5-211

  • Annuity: A periodic (usually annual) payment of a fixed sum of money for either the life of the recipient or for a fixed number of years. A series of payments under a contract from an insurance company, a trust company, or an individual. Annuity payments are made at regular intervals over a period of more than one full year.
  • Annuity: means an agreement to make periodical payments for a period certain or over the lifetime of one or more individuals if the making or continuance of all or some of the series of the payments, or the amount of the payment, is dependent upon the continuance of human life. See Utah Code 31A-1-301
  • Application: means a document:
(a) 
(i) completed by an applicant to provide information about the risk to be insured; and
(ii) that contains information that is used by the insurer to evaluate risk and decide whether to:
(A) insure the risk under:
(I) the coverage as originally offered; or
(II) a modification of the coverage as originally offered; or
(B) decline to insure the risk; or
(b) used by the insurer to gather information from the applicant before issuance of an annuity contract. See Utah Code 31A-1-301
  • articles of incorporation: means :
    (a) the original articles;
    (b) a special law;
    (c) a charter;
    (d) an amendment;
    (e) restated articles;
    (f) articles of merger or consolidation;
    (g) a trust instrument;
    (h) another constitutive document for a trust or other entity that is not a corporation; and
    (i) an amendment to an item listed in Subsections (11)(a) through (h). See Utah Code 31A-1-301
  • Business plan: means the information required to be supplied to the commissioner under Subsections 31A-5-204(2)(i) and (j), including the information required when these subsections apply by reference under:
    (a) Section 31A-8-205; or
    (b) Subsection 31A-9-205(2). See Utah Code 31A-1-301
  • Certificate: means evidence of insurance given to:
    (a) an insured under a group insurance policy; or
    (b) a third party. See Utah Code 31A-1-301
  • Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
  • Corporation: means an insurance corporation, except when referring to:
    (i) a corporation doing business:
    (A) as:
    (I) an insurance producer;
    (II) a surplus lines producer;
    (III) a limited line producer;
    (IV) a consultant;
    (V) a managing general agent;
    (VI) a reinsurance intermediary;
    (VII) a third party administrator; or
    (VIII) an adjuster; and
    (B) under:
    (I) Chapter 23a, Insurance Marketing - Licensing Producers, Consultants, and Reinsurance Intermediaries;
    (II) Chapter 25, Third Party Administrators; or
    (III) Chapter 26, Insurance Adjusters; or
    (ii) a noninsurer that is part of a holding company system under Chapter 16, Insurance Holding Companies. See Utah Code 31A-1-301
  • Insurance: includes :
    (i) a risk distributing arrangement providing for compensation or replacement for damages or loss through the provision of a service or a benefit in kind;
    (ii) a contract of guaranty or suretyship entered into by the guarantor or surety as a business and not as merely incidental to a business transaction; and
    (iii) a plan in which the risk does not rest upon the person who makes an arrangement, but with a class of persons who have agreed to share the risk. See Utah Code 31A-1-301
  • Insured: means a person to whom or for whose benefit an insurer makes a promise in an insurance policy and includes:
    (i) a policyholder;
    (ii) a subscriber;
    (iii) a member; and
    (iv) a beneficiary. See Utah Code 31A-1-301
  • Liability insurance: includes :
    (i) vehicle liability insurance;
    (ii) residential dwelling liability insurance; and
    (iii) making inspection of, and issuing a certificate of inspection upon, an elevator, boiler, machinery, or apparatus of any kind when done in connection with insurance on the elevator, boiler, machinery, or apparatus. See Utah Code 31A-1-301
  • Life insurance: means :
    (i) insurance on a human life; and
    (ii) insurance pertaining to or connected with human life. See Utah Code 31A-1-301
  • Mutual: means a mutual insurance corporation. See Utah Code 31A-1-301
  • Permanent surplus: means the surplus of an insurer or organization that is designated by the insurer or organization as permanent. See Utah Code 31A-1-301
  • Premium: includes , however designated:
    (i) an assessment;
    (ii) a membership fee;
    (iii) a required contribution; or
    (iv) monetary consideration. See Utah Code 31A-1-301
  • Reinsurance: means an insurance transaction where an insurer, for consideration, transfers any portion of the risk it has assumed to another insurer. See Utah Code 31A-1-301
  • Reinsurer: means a person licensed in this state as an insurer with the authority to assume reinsurance. See Utah Code 31A-1-301
  • Residential dwelling liability insurance: means insurance against liability resulting from or incident to the ownership, maintenance, or use of a residential dwelling that is a detached single family residence or multifamily residence up to four units. See Utah Code 31A-1-301
  • State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes a state, district, or territory of the United States. See Utah Code 68-3-12.5
  • Surplus: means the excess of assets over the sum of paid-in capital and liabilities. See Utah Code 31A-1-301
  • Total adjusted capital: means the sum of an insurer's or health organization's statutory capital and surplus as determined in accordance with:
    (a) the statutory accounting applicable to the annual financial statements required to be filed under Section 31A-4-113; and
    (b) another item provided by the RBC instructions, as RBC instructions is defined in Section 31A-17-601. See Utah Code 31A-1-301
    (a)  Except as provided in Subsections (4) and (5), insurers being organized or operating under this chapter shall maintain minimum capital or permanent surplus for a mutual, in amounts specified in Subsection (2).

    (b)  The certificate of authority issued under Section 31A-5-212 does not permit an insurer to transact types of insurance for which the insurer does not have the required minimum capital or permanent surplus for a mutual, in at least the amounts specified under Subsection (2).

    (c)  Minimum capital and permanent surplus requirements under this section are based upon all types of insurance transacted by the insurer in any and all areas which it operates, whether or not only a portion of those types of insurance is or is to be transacted in this state.
  • (2)  The minimum capital, or permanent surplus for a nonassessable mutual, is as follows for the indicated types of insurance:

    (a)  life, annuity, accident and health, or any combination of these…………………..$400,000

    (b)  subject to an aggregate maximum of $1,000,000 for more than one of the following types of coverages:

    (i)  property insurance……………………………………………………………………………….200,000

    (ii)  surety insurance………………………………………………………………………………….300,000

    (iii)  bail bonds insurance only…………………………………………………………………….100,000

    (iv)  marine and transportation insurance………………………………………………………200,000

    (v)  vehicle liability insurance, residential dwelling liability insurance, or both……..400,000

    (vi)  liability insurance……………………………………………………………………………….600,000

    (vii)  workers’ compensation insurance…………………………………………………………300,000

    (c)  title insurance…………………………………………………………………………………….200,000

    (d)  professional liability insurance, excluding medical malpractice……………………700,000

    (e)  professional liability, including medical malpractice……………………………….1,000,000

    (f)  all types of insurance, except life, annuity, or title…………………………………..2,000,000

    (3)  Prior to beginning operations, an insurer licensed under this chapter shall have total adjusted capital in excess of the company action level RBC as defined in Subsection 31A-17-601(8)(b).

    (4) 

    (a)  Subject to Subsections (4)(b) and (4)(c), an insurer holding a valid certificate of authority to transact insurance in this state prior to July 1, 1986, continues to be authorized to transact the same kinds of insurance as permitted by that certificate of authority, if the insurer maintains not less than the amount of minimum capital or permanent surplus required for that authority under the laws of this state in force immediately prior to July 1, 1986.

    (b)  If, after July 1, 1986, an insurer ever has minimum capital or permanent surplus that meets or exceeds the requirements of Subsections (2) and (3), then Subsection (4)(a) is inapplicable to that insurer and it shall comply with Subsections (2) and (3).

    (c)  Any insurer satisfying the minimum capital or permanent surplus requirement through application of Subsection (4)(a) shall comply with Subsections (2) and (3) by July 1, 1990.

    (d)  Beginning July 1, 1987, former county mutuals shall comply with the capital and surplus requirements of this section.

    (5) 

    (a) 

    (i)  An assessable mutual may be organized under this chapter, but it may not issue life insurance or annuities.

    (ii)  An assessable mutual need not have a permanent surplus if the assessment liability of its policyholders is unlimited and all insurance policies clearly state that.

    (iii)  If assessments are limited to a specified amount or a specified multiple of annual advance premiums, the minimum permanent surplus is the amount that would be required under Subsections (2) and (3) if the corporation were not assessable, reduced by an amount that reasonably reflects the value of the policyholders’ assessment liability in satisfying the financial needs of the corporation.

    (iv)  The liability of members in an assessable mutual is joint and several up to the limits provided by:

    (A)  the articles of incorporation of the assessable mutual; or

    (B)  this title.

    (b) 

    (i)  Except as provided in Subsections (5)(c) and (d), a certificate of authority may not be issued to an assessable mutual until it has at least 400 bona fide applications for insurance from not less than 400 separate applicants, on separate risks located in this state, in each of the classes of business upon which assessments may be separately levied. A full year’s premium shall be paid with each application and the aggregate premium is at least $50,000 for each class.

    (ii)  If at any time while the corporation is an assessable mutual, the business plan is amended to include an additional class of business on which assessments may be separately levied, identical requirements of Subsection (5)(b)(i) are applicable to each additional class.

    (c)  Five or more employers may join in the formation of an assessable mutual to write only workers’ compensation insurance if, instead of the requirements of Subsection (5)(b), policies are simultaneously put into effect that cover at least 1,500 employees, with no single employer having more than 1/5 of the employees insured by the assessable mutual. A full year’s premium shall be paid by each employer, aggregating at least $200,000.

    (d) 

    (i)  The number and amount of required initial applications and premium payments may be reduced by substituting surplus for the applications or premium payments.

    (ii)  The commissioner shall determine the reduction in required initial applications and premium payments that is appropriate for a given amount of surplus.

    (iii)  The insurer shall continue to be assessable until conversion under Subsection 31A-5-507(1) to a nonassessable mutual.

    (6) 

    (a)  The capital or permanent surplus requirements of Subsection (2) apply to persons seeking certificates of authority under this chapter to write reinsurance.

    (b)  This Subsection (6) may not be construed as requiring reinsurers to obtain a certificate of authority.

    (c)  Section 31A-17-404 imposes alternate safety prerequisites to reserve credit being granted for reinsurance ceded to a reinsurer without a certificate of authority.

    Amended by Chapter 123, 2005 General Session