South Carolina § 38-13-860 - Exemptions.

§ 38-13-860. Exemptions.

(A) An insurer is exempt from the requirements of this article if the:

(1) insurer has annual direct written and unaffiliated assumed premiums, including international direct and assumed premium but excluding premiums reinsured with the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation and Federal Flood Program, of less than five hundred million dollars; and

(2) insurance group of which the insurer is a member has annual direct written and unaffiliated assumed premiums including international direct and assumed premiums, but excluding premiums reinsured with the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation and Federal Flood Program, of less than one billion dollars.

(B) If an insurer qualifies for exemption pursuant to item (1) of subsection (A), but the insurance group of which the insurer is a member does not qualify for exemption pursuant to item (2) of subsection (A), the ORSA Summary Report that is required pursuant to Section 38-13-850 must include every insurer within the insurance group. This requirement may be satisfied by the submission of more than one ORSA Summary Report for a combination of insurers provided the combination of reports includes every insurer within the insurance group.

(C) If an insurer does not qualify for exemption pursuant to item (1) of subsection (A), but the insurance group of which it is a member qualifies for exemption pursuant to item (2) of subsection (A), the only ORSA Summary Report that may be required pursuant Section 38-13-850 is the report applicable to that insurer.

(D) An insurer that does not qualify for exemption pursuant to subsection (A) may apply to the director for a waiver from the requirements of this article based upon unique circumstances. In deciding whether to grant the insurer's request for waiver, the director may consider the type and volume of business written, ownership and organizational structure, and any other factor the director 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 director shall coordinate with the lead state commissioner and with the other domiciliary commissioners in considering whether to grant the insurer's request for a waiver.

(E) Notwithstanding the exemptions stated in this section, the director may require an insurer to maintain a risk management framework, conduct an ORSA, and file an ORSA Summary Report:

(1) 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) if the insurer has risk-based capital for a company action level event as set forth in Section 38-9-330, meets one or more of the standards of an insurer deemed to be in hazardous financial condition as defined in Section 38-5-120 or otherwise exhibits qualities of a troubled insurer as determined by the director.

(F) If an insurer that qualifies for an exemption pursuant to subsection (A) subsequently no longer qualifies for that exemption due to premium changes 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 has one year following the year the threshold is exceeded to comply with the requirements of this article.

HISTORY: 2017 Act No. 48 (S.254), SECTION 1, eff January 1, 2018.