N.Y. Insurance Law § 1102: Insurer's license required; issuance

§ 1102. Insurer's license required; issuance. (a) No person, firm,

association, corporation or joint-stock company shall do an insurance

business in this state unless authorized by a license in force pursuant

to the provisions of this chapter, or exempted by the provisions of this

chapter from such requirement. Any person, firm, association,

corporation or joint-stock company which transacts any insurance

business in this state while not authorized to do so by a license issued

and in force pursuant to this chapter, or exempted by this chapter from

the requirement of having such license, shall, in addition to any other

penalty provided by law, forfeit to the people of this state the sum of

one thousand dollars for the first violation and two thousand five

hundred dollars for each subsequent violation.

(b) No corporation organized under any law of this state shall do an

insurance business outside this state unless so authorized pursuant to

the provisions of this chapter or exempted by the provisions of this

chapter from such requirement.

(c) Every insurer organized prior to the first day of October,

eighteen hundred ninety-two, as an insurer under any general or special

law of this state which was doing an insurance business in this state

immediately prior to the first day of January, nineteen hundred forty in

compliance with the insurance law then in force and not as an

organization exempted therefrom, shall be deemed licensed to do an

insurance business in this state, subject to this chapter.

(d) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (h) hereof, the

superintendent may issue a license to any insurer to do in this state

the kinds of insurance business for which such insurer is qualified

under the provisions of this chapter and under its charter. Every such

license shall contain the name of the licensee, its home office address,

the state or country under whose laws it was organized, the kinds of

insurance business, as defined in this chapter, which it is authorized

to do in this state, and the term of such license. The superintendent

may refuse to issue or renew any such license if in his judgment such

refusal will best promote the interests of the people of this state.

(e) (1) Before licensing any such corporation organized under section

one thousand two hundred one of this chapter, to do any insurance

business, the superintendent shall:

(A) If such corporation be a stock corporation, cause an examination

to be made into its affairs in accordance with the provisions of this

chapter; and if it appears from the report upon such examination that

the amount of capital and surplus required by law has been paid in and

is possessed by the corporation in cash or in investments permitted by

this chapter as minimum capital or minimum surplus to policyholder

investments under section one thousand four hundred two of this chapter,

the superintendent shall file such report in his office and notify the

corporation thereof;

(B) If such corporation be a mutual corporation, require proof (by

statements of at least three incorporators subscribed and affirmed by

such incorporators as true under the penalties of perjury, and by such

investigation or examination of the affairs of such corporation as he

may deem it expedient to make pursuant to the provisions of this

chapter) that:

(i) the corporation has fully complied with the applicable provisions

of this chapter,

(ii) it has the required initial surplus in cash or investments as

prescribed in this chapter,

(iii) it has the required number and amount of bona fide applications

for insurance as prescribed in this chapter,

(iv) the membership list is genuine, and

(v) every member has paid in cash the required premium on the

insurance applied for and will take the policies as agreed within sixty

days after a license has been issued to such corporation.

If the superintendent finds such proof of the foregoing facts to be

sufficient, he shall file it in his office and notify the corporation

thereof;

(C) Upon payment of the appropriate fees by such corporation, cause a

copy of its declaration and charter, certified by him, to be filed and

recorded in the office of the clerk of the county in which such

corporation has its principal office.

(2) The superintendent may refuse a license to any such corporation if

he finds, after notice and hearing, that any proposed incorporator or

director of a stock corporation, or any director of a mutual

corporation, has been convicted of any crime involving fraud,

dishonesty, or like moral turpitude, or is an untrustworthy person. As a

part of such determination, the superintendent is authorized to

fingerprint applicants for licensure. Such fingerprints shall be

submitted to the division of criminal justice services for a state

criminal history record check, as defined in subdivision one of section

three thousand thirty-five of the education law, and may be submitted to

the federal bureau of investigation for a national criminal history

record check.

(3) The corporation, on receiving notice from the superintendent that

it has complied with this subsection, shall thereupon deposit with the

superintendent such monies or securities as may be required by law.

(4) Upon compliance with this section and any other lawful

prerequisites for the issuance of an insurer's license, the

superintendent may, pursuant to this section, issue a license to such

corporation to do the kind or kinds of business specified in its

charter; provided that this subsection shall not apply to co-operative

fire insurance companies, fraternal benefit societies, or corporations

organized under article forty-three of this chapter.

(f) Except as may be otherwise provided in this chapter, every license

to do an insurance business shall be issued to a single licensee, who

shall be either an individual or corporation.

(g) (1) No license to do an insurance business, or to act as an

insurance agent, agency or broker, shall be granted to any person, firm,

association, corporation, or joint-stock company proposing to do

business under a name identical with, or so similar to as to be likely

to deceive or mislead the public, the name of any insurer then licensed

or authorized to do any kind of insurance business within this state, or

of any proposed domestic insurance corporation whose name has been

approved pursuant to section one thousand two hundred one of this

chapter within six months preceding the application for such license, or

of any domestic corporation, organized but not yet licensed, which has

not forfeited its charter because of non-use; provided, the

superintendent may, in his discretion, upon satisfactory proof of an

appropriate resolution of any insurance corporation's board of

directors, grant a license to do any different kind of insurance

business to another person, firm, association, joint-stock company,

insurance agent, agency or broker, or insurance corporation, having a

similar, but not identical, name. Notwithstanding any other provision of

this article, the superintendent may refuse to grant a license to do an

insurance business, or to act as an insurance agent, agency or broker,

to any person, firm, association, corporation or joint-stock company

proposing to do business under a name which is likely to deceive or

mislead the public in this state.

(2) The provisions of this subsection shall not apply to a license

renewal for a foreign or alien insurer, or to any corporation formed as

part of a plan, approved by the superintendent and by the court, for

rehabilitation of a domestic insurance corporation pursuant to article

seventy-four of this chapter. A domestic corporation, formed by

reincorporation, reorganization or consolidation of other corporations,

or upon the sale of the property or franchises of another corporation,

or a corporation acquiring or becoming possessed of all of the estate,

property, rights, privileges and franchises of any other corporation or

corporations by merger, may have a name identical with, or similar to,

that of any corporation to whose franchises it has succeeded, if such

other corporation was then licensed to do the business of insurance in

this state.

(h) No license to transact any kind of insurance business in this

state shall be issued or renewed to any foreign or alien insurer or

issued or continued in effect to any domestic insurer which is

controlled by another state of the United States or by a foreign

government or by any political subdivision of either, or which is an

agency of any such state, government or subdivision, unless: (1) such

insurer was so controlled or constituted, and was authorized to do

business in this state, on or prior to January first, nineteen hundred

fifty-six; or (2) such insurer is not authorized to transact the kinds

of insurance specified in paragraph one, two or three of subsection (a)

of section one thousand one hundred thirteen of this article and the

superintendent determines that:

(A) such insurer does not receive a subsidy or other competitive

advantage, as a result of such control or status, that would enable it

to compete unfairly with similarly situated authorized insurers which

are not so controlled or constituted;

(B) such insurer is not entitled to claim sovereign immunity as a

result of such control or status, or has waived the sovereign immunity;

(C) the use of such insurer would not be detrimental to the interests

of the people of this state; and

(D) such insurer otherwise satisfies all applicable requirements for

the issuance or renewal of such license.