SPONSOR: |
Sen. Bushweller & Rep. B. Short |
|
Sen.
Ennis |
DELAWARE STATE SENATE 147th GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
SENATE BILL NO. 203 |
AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 18 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO RISK MANAGEMENT AND OWN RISK AND SOLVENCY ASSESSMENT (ORSA). |
Section 1. Amend Title 18 of the Delaware Code by making deletions as shown by strike through and insertions as shown by underline as follows:
Chapter 84.
RISK MANAGEMENT AND OWN RISK AND SOLVENCY ASSESSMENT (ORSA)
§ 8401.
Short title.
This chapter may be cited as the “Risk
Management And Own Risk And Solvency Assessment (ORSA) Act.”
§
8402. Purpose and Scope.
The purpose of this Act is to provide the
requirements for maintaining a risk management framework and completing an Own
Risk and Solvency Assessment (ORSA) and provide guidance and instructions for
filing an ORSA Summary Report with the Insurance Commissioner of this State.
The requirements of this Act shall apply to
all insurers domiciled in this State unless exempt pursuant to § 8407.
The Legislature finds and declares that the
ORSA Summary Report will contain confidential and sensitive information related
to an insurer or insurance group’s identification of risks material and
relevant to the insurer or insurance group filing the report. This information will include proprietary and
trade secret information that has the potential for harm and competitive
disadvantage to the insurer or insurance group if the information is made
public. It is the intent of this
Legislature that the ORSA Summary Report shall be a confidential document filed
with the Insurance Commissioner, that the ORSA Summary Report will be shared
only as stated herein and to assist the Insurance Commissioner in the
performance of his or her duties, and that in no event shall the ORSA Summary
Report be subject to public disclosure.
§ 8403.
Definitions.
As used in this chapter, unless the context
requires otherwise:
(1)
“Insurance group.” For the
purpose of conducting an ORSA, the term “insurance group” shall mean those
insurers and affiliates included within an insurance holding company system as
defined in Chapter 50 Insurance Holding Company System Registration of this
Title.
(2)
“Insurer.” The term “insurer”
shall have the same meaning as set forth in Section 102(3) of this Title,
except that it shall not include agencies, authorities or instrumentalities of
the United States, its possessions and territories, the Commonwealth of Puerto
Rico, the District of Columbia, or a state or political subdivision of a state.
(3) “Own
Risk and Solvency Assessment” or “ORSA.”
An “Own Risk and Solvency Assessment” or “ORSA” shall mean a
confidential internal assessment, appropriate to the nature, scale and
complexity of an insurer or insurance group, conducted by that insurer or
insurance group of the material and relevant risks associated with the insurer
or insurance group’s current business plan, and the sufficiency of capital
resources to support those risks.
(4)
“ORSA Guidance Manual.” The term
“ORSA Guidance Manual” shall mean the current version of the Own Risk and
Solvency Assessment Guidance Manual developed and adopted by the National
Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) and as amended from time to
time. A change in the ORSA Guidance
Manual shall be effective on the January 1 following the calendar year in which
the changes have been adopted by the NAIC.
(5)
“ORSA Summary Report.” An “ORSA
Summary Report” shall mean a confidential high-level summary of an insurer or
insurance group’s ORSA.
§ 8404.
Risk Management
Framework.
An
insurer shall maintain a risk management framework to assist the insurer with
identifying, assessing, monitoring, managing and reporting on its material and
relevant risks. This requirement may be
satisfied if the insurance group of which the insurer is a member maintains a
risk management framework applicable to the operations of the insurer.
§ 8405.
ORSA Requirement.
Subject
to § 8407, an insurer, or the insurance group of which the insurer is a
member, shall regularly conduct an ORSA consistent with a process comparable to
the ORSA Guidance Manual. The ORSA shall
be conducted no less than annually but also at any time when there are
significant changes to the risk profile of the insurer or the insurance group
of which the insurer is a member.
§ 8406.
ORSA Summary Report.
(a) Upon the Insurance Commissioner’s request,
and no more than once each year, an insurer shall submit to the Insurance
Commissioner an ORSA Summary Report or any combination of reports that together
contain the information described in the ORSA Guidance Manual, applicable to
the insurer and/or the insurance group of which it is a member. Notwithstanding any request from the
Insurance Commissioner, if the insurer is a member of an insurance group, the
insurer shall submit the report(s) required by this subsection if the Insurance
Commissioner is the lead State Commissioner of the insurance group as
determined by the procedures within the Financial Analysis Handbook adopted by
the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.
(b) The report(s) shall include a signature of
the insurer or insurance group’s chief risk officer or other executive having
responsibility for the oversight of the insurer’s enterprise risk management
process attesting to the best of his/her belief and knowledge that the insurer
applies the enterprise risk management process described in the ORSA Summary
Report and that a copy of the report has been provided to the insurer’s board
of directors or the appropriate committee thereof.
(c) An insurer may comply with subsection (a) by
providing the most recent and substantially similar report(s) provided by the
insurer or another member of an insurance group of which the insurer is a
member to the insurance commissioner of another state or to a supervisor or
regulator of a foreign jurisdiction, if that report provides information that
is comparable to the information described in the ORSA Guidance Manual. Any
such report in a language other than English must be accompanied by a
translation of that report into the English language.
§ 8407. Exemption.
(a) An insurer shall be exempt from the
requirements of this Act, if
(1) The insurer has annual
direct written and unaffiliated assumed premium, including international direct
and assumed premium but excluding premiums reinsured with the Federal Crop
Insurance Corporation and Federal Flood Program, less than $500,000,000; and,
(2) The insurance group of which the insurer is a
member has annual direct written and unaffiliated assumed premium including
international direct and assumed premium, but excluding premiums reinsured with
the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation and Federal Flood Program, less than
$1,000,000,000.
(b) If an insurer qualifies for exemption
pursuant to paragraph (1) of subsection (a), but the insurance group of which the
insurer is a member does not qualify for exemption pursuant to paragraph (2) of
subsection (a), then the ORSA Summary Report that may be required pursuant to
§ 8406 shall include every insurer within the insurance group. This requirement may be satisfied by the
submission of more than one ORSA Summary Report for any combination of insurers
provided any combination of reports includes every insurer within the insurance
group.
(c) If an insurer does not qualify for exemption
pursuant to paragraph (1) of subsection (a), but the insurance group of which
it is a member qualifies for exemption pursuant to paragraph (2) of subsection
(a), then the only ORSA Summary Report that may be required pursuant
§ 8406 shall be the report applicable to that insurer.
(d) An insurer that does not qualify for
exemption pursuant to subsection (a) may apply to the Insurance Commissioner
for a waiver from the requirements of this Act based upon unique circumstances. In deciding whether to grant the insurer’s
request for waiver, the Insurance Commissioner may consider the type and volume
of business written, ownership and organizational structure, and any other
factor the Insurance Commissioner considers relevant to the insurer or
insurance group of which the insurer is a member. If the insurer is part of an insurance group
with insurers domiciled in more than one state, the Insurance Commissioner
shall coordinate with the lead state insurance commissioner and with the other
domiciliary insurance commissioners in considering whether to grant the
insurer’s request for a waiver.
(e) Notwithstanding the exemptions stated in this
section:
(1) The Insurance Commissioner may require that
an insurer maintain a risk management framework, conduct an ORSA and file an
ORSA Summary Report based on unique circumstances including, but not limited
to, the type and volume of business written, ownership and organizational
structure, federal agency requests, and international supervisor requests.
(2) The Insurance Commissioner may require that
an insurer maintain a risk management framework, conduct an ORSA and file an
ORSA Summary Report if the insurer has Risk-Based Capital for company action
level event as set forth in Section 5803 of this Title, meets one or more of
the standards of an insurer deemed to be in hazardous financial condition as
defined in 18 Del. Admin. Code Section 304 Standards and Commissioner’s
Authority for Companies Deemed to be in Hazardous Financial Condition [Formerly
Regulation 70], or otherwise exhibits qualities of a troubled insurer as
determined by the Insurance Commissioner.
(f) If an insurer that qualifies for an exemption
pursuant to subsection (a) subsequently no longer qualifies for that exemption
due to changes in premium as reflected in the insurer’s most recent annual
statement or in the most recent annual statements of the insurers within the
insurance group of which the insurer is a member, the insurer shall have one
(1) year following the year the threshold is exceeded to comply with the requirements
of this Act.
§ 8408. Contents of ORSA Summary Report.
(a) The ORSA Summary Report shall be prepared
consistent with the ORSA Guidance Manual, subject to the requirements of
subsection (b) of this section.
Documentation and supporting information shall be maintained and made
available upon examination or upon request of the Insurance Commissioner.
(b) The review of the ORSA Summary Report, and
any additional requests for information, shall be made using similar procedures
currently used in the analysis and examination of multi-state or global
insurers and insurance groups.
§ 8409. Confidentiality.
(a) Documents, materials or other information,
including the ORSA Summary Report, in the possession of or control of the
Department of Insurance that are obtained by, created by or disclosed to the
Insurance Commissioner or any other person under this Act, is recognized by
this State as being proprietary and to contain trade secrets. All such documents, materials or other
information shall be confidential by law and privileged, shall not be subject
to this State’s Freedom of Information Act, 29 Del. C. §§ 10001, et. seq.,
shall not be subject to subpoena, and shall not be subject to discovery or
admissible in evidence in any private civil action. However, the Insurance Commissioner is
authorized to use the documents, materials or other information in the
furtherance of any regulatory or legal action brought as a part of the
Insurance Commissioner’s official duties.
The Insurance Commissioner shall not otherwise make the documents,
materials or other information public without the prior written consent of the
insurer.
(b) Neither the Insurance Commissioner nor any
person who received documents, materials or other ORSA-related information,
through examination or otherwise, while acting under the authority of the
Insurance Commissioner or with whom such documents, materials or other
information are shared pursuant to this Act shall be permitted or required to
testify in any private civil action concerning any confidential documents,
materials, or information subject to subsection (a).
(c) In order to assist in the performance of the
Insurance Commissioner’s regulatory duties, the Insurance Commissioner:
(1) May, upon request, share documents, materials
or other ORSA-related information, including the confidential and privileged
documents, materials or information subject to subsection (a), including
proprietary and trade secret documents and materials with other state, federal
and international financial regulatory agencies, including members of any
supervisory college, as described in Section 5007 of this Title, with the NAIC
and with any third-party consultants designated by the Insurance Commissioner,
provided that the recipient agrees in writing to maintain the confidentiality
and privileged status of the ORSA-related documents, materials or other
information and has verified in writing the legal authority to maintain
confidentiality; and
(2) May receive documents, materials or other
ORSA-related information, including otherwise confidential and privileged
documents, materials or information, including proprietary and trade-secret
information or documents, from regulatory officials of other foreign or
domestic jurisdictions, including members of any supervisory college, and from
the NAIC, and shall maintain as confidential or privileged any documents,
materials or information received with notice or the understanding that it is
confidential or privileged under the laws of the jurisdiction that is the
source of the document, material or information.
(3) Shall enter into a written agreement with the
NAIC or a third-party consultant governing sharing and use of information
provided pursuant to this Act, consistent with this subsection that shall:
(i) Specify procedures and protocols regarding
the confidentiality and security of information shared with the NAIC or a
third-party consultant pursuant to this Act, including procedures and protocols
for sharing by the NAIC with other state regulators from states in which the
insurance group has domiciled insurers.
The agreement shall provide that the recipient agrees in writing to
maintain the confidentiality and privileged status of the ORSA-related
documents, materials or other information and has verified in writing the legal
authority to maintain confidentiality;
(ii) Specify that ownership of information shared
with the NAIC or a third-party consultant pursuant to this Act remains with the
Insurance Commissioner and the NAIC’s or a third-party consultant’s use of the
information is subject to the direction of the Insurance Commissioner;
(iii) Prohibit the NAIC or third-party consultant
from storing the information shared pursuant to this Act in a permanent
database after the underlying analysis is completed;
(iv) Require prompt notice to be given to an
insurer whose confidential information in the possession of the NAIC or a
third-party consultant pursuant to this Act is subject to a request or subpoena
to the NAIC or a third-party consultant for disclosure or production;
(v) Require the NAIC or a third-party consultant
to consent to intervention by an insurer in any judicial or administrative
action in which the NAIC or a third-party consultant may be required to
disclose confidential information about the insurer shared with the NAIC or a
third-party consultant pursuant to this
Act; and
(vi) In the case of an
agreement involving a third-party consultant, provide for the insurer’s written
consent.
(d) The sharing of information and documents by the
Insurance Commissioner pursuant to this Act shall not constitute a delegation
of regulatory authority or rulemaking, and the Insurance Commissioner is solely
responsible for the administration, execution and enforcement of the provisions
of this Act.
(e) No waiver of any applicable privilege or
claim of confidentiality in the documents, proprietary and trade-secret
materials or other ORSA-related information shall occur as a result of
disclosure of such ORSA-related information or documents to the Insurance
Commissioner under this section or as a result of sharing as authorized in this
Act.
(f) Documents, materials or other information in
the possession or control of the NAIC or a third-party consultant pursuant to
this Act shall be confidential by law and privileged, shall not be subject to
this State’s Freedom of Information Act, 29 Del. C. §§ 10001, et. seq., shall
not be subject to subpoena, and shall not be subject to discovery or admissible
in evidence in any private civil action.
§ 8410. Sanctions.
Any insurer failing,
without just cause, to timely file the ORSA Summary Report as required in this
Act shall be subject to the enforcement and penalty provisions set forth in
Chapter 3 of this Title.
§ 8411.
Severability Clause.
If any provision of this
Act, or the application thereof to any person or circumstance, is held invalid,
such determination shall not affect the provisions or applications of this Act
which can be given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to
that end the provisions of this Act are severable.
§ 8412.
Effective Date.
The requirements of this Act shall become effective on January 1, 2015. The first filing of the ORSA Summary Report shall be in 2015 pursuant to § 8406 of this Act.
SYNOPSIS
This bill’s language comes directly from an NAIC Model Law for consistency across the United States and creates a new Chapter 84 under Title 18. To further enhance insurance policyholder protections, this bill will require an insurer to maintain a risk management framework to assist the insurer or an insurance group with identifying, assessing, monitoring, managing and reporting on its material and relevant risks. The bill provides an “own Risk and Solvency Assessment” (ORSA) requirement and the submission of a report under set conditions and confidentiality provisions. |
Author: Senator Bushweller