OIR Seeks to Amend Holding Company Regulations
The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation held a workshop at its office in Tallahassee to discuss potential amendments to key administrative rules governing insurance holding company systems and transactions between insurers and their affiliates. The workshop is the first step in the administrative rule making process, which ultimately leads to formal revisions to regulations governing the industry.
The OIR intends to amend rule 69O-143.046 “Registration of Insurers,” rule 69O-143.047 “Standards,” and rule 69O-143.056 “Acquisition of Controlling Stock.” The latter rule received little attention at the workshop because it is being amended only to increase the referenced 5% threshold for filing an acquisition to 10% in light of a statutory change. Industry representatives had more comments, however, on rules 69O-143.046 and 69O-143.047, which govern holding company registration statements and transactions among affiliates.
In many instances, the revisions proposed by the OIR bring the rules into better alignment with NAIC model regulations. Although some differences remain, most of the rules and underlying forms are either identical to NAIC models or contain content that the OIR believes is substantially similar such that insurers domiciled in Florida likely will find that forms submitted to Florida satisfy the informational requirements of other states.
Along with the amended rules, the OIR would adopt an updated version of its Holding Company Registration Statement. The version of the form currently in effect was adopted in 1997. The overall format of the draft form is similar to the current version, but several requirements are either added or amended to better track information required in the NAIC model. Florida also plans to adopt a form entitled “Summary of Changes to Registration Statement” following the format of Form C in the NAIC model. Florida currently does not use this form. Additionally, the OIR proposes to adopt a “Prior Notice of a Transaction” form, which follows the familiar Form D. Florida currently requires prior notice of affiliated transactions but does not mandate use of the Form D format.
Finally, the OIR is looking to adopt Form F for the “Enterprise Risk Report.” Again, Florida requires the submission of an enterprise risk report, but it has not adopted a specific format for doing so. Many insurers looked to the standard Form F format for guidance when preparing their enterprise risk reports this year, and the OIR’s rule would formalize the use of that format.