N.Y. Insurance Law § 307: Annual statements; audited financial statements

§ 307. Annual statements; audited financial statements. (a) (1) Every

insurer and every fraternal benefit society that is authorized to do an

insurance business in this state, and every pension fund, retirement

system or state fund that is required, by any law of this state, to

report to the superintendent or is subject to the superintendent's

examination, shall file in the office of the superintendent, annually on

or before the first day of March, a statement, to be known as its annual

statement, executed in duplicate, verified by the oath of at least two

of its principal officers, showing its condition at last year-end or, in

the case of a pension fund or retirement system, on such date in the

year next preceding as the superintendent may approve. Such statement

shall be in such form and shall contain such matters as the

superintendent shall prescribe. The superintendent may accept an

electronic filing of a foreign insurer's annual statement that does not

contain the signatures or verification of the officers provided that the

foreign insurer has filed, in its state of domicile, an annual statement

verified by the oath of at least two of its principal officers. In such

a situation, the officers of the foreign insurer shall be deemed to have

given their oath in this state.

(2) The superintendent shall from time to time prescribe the form of

such annual statement, which may be a printed document and/or electronic

media, and which may be varied as to different types of insurers,

corporations, societies, pension funds and retirement systems, as shall

seem to him best adapted to elicit a true exhibit of the condition of

each such entity, in respect to every matter which he may deem material.

For every annual statement form which differs from or is in addition to

those adopted from time to time by the national association of insurance

commissioners, the superintendent shall cause to be prepared and

furnished to every insurer, pension fund or retirement system required

by law to report to him, printed forms of the statements and schedules

required by him.

(3) The annual statement of an alien insurer may be verified by the

oath of the manager or assistant manager thereof within the United

States, or by any other official of such insurer authorized by it to

sign and verify its annual statements, if such authorization shall be

proved by filing with the superintendent such evidence as he may

require. The annual statement of an alien insurer, excepting a fraternal

benefit society, shall be a separate statement, to be known as its

general form of statement, of the business done within the United States

and of the assets held by or for it within the United States for the

protection of policyholders and creditors within the United States and

of the liabilities incurred against such assets, and shall not contain

any statement in regard to its assets and business elsewhere. But the

superintendent may require any such alien insurer to give such

additional information as to its total business or assets or any portion

thereof as he may determine.

(4) Every insurer and every fraternal benefit society which is

authorized to do an insurance business in this state, and every pension

fund, retirement system or state fund which is required by any law of

this state to report to the superintendent, which willfully fails to

file an annual statement as required in this section, or willfully fails

to reply within thirty days to a written inquiry by the superintendent

in connection therewith, shall, in addition to other penalties provided

by this chapter, be subject, upon due notice and opportunity to be

heard, to a penalty of up to two hundred fifty dollars per day of delay,

not to exceed twenty-five thousand dollars in the aggregate, for each

such failure.

(b) (1) Every licensed insurer, except an assessment co-operative

property/casualty insurance company having direct premiums written in

this state of less than two hundred fifty thousand dollars in any

calendar year and having less than five hundred policyholders at the end

of such calendar year, shall be required to file within five months of

the end of such calendar year, an annual financial statement (including

an annual financial statement of any subsidiary of the type described in

paragraph nine of subsection (a) of section one thousand four hundred

four or subparagraph (B) of paragraph four of subsection (a) of section

one thousand four hundred seven of this chapter) together with an

opinion thereon of an independent certified public accountant on the

financial statement of such insurer and any such subsidiary, which

statement and opinion shall be available for public inspection at the

office of the superintendent and the principal office of the insurer.

Each such insurer shall furnish the superintendent with an evaluation by

such accountant of the accounting procedures and internal control

systems of the insurer that are necessary to the furnishing of the

opinion. Each such insurer shall require the accountant to make

available for review by the superintendent the work papers and any

communications between the accountant and the insurer relating to the

examination of the insurer. Any such work papers and communications made

available to the superintendent shall be kept confidential, shall not be

subject to subpoena and shall not be made public unless, after notice

and opportunity to be heard, the superintendent determines that the

interests of policyholders, stockholders or the public will be served by

the publication thereof. Each such insurer shall require the accountant

to notify the superintendent if the accountant has determined that the

insurer has materially misstated its financial condition as reported to

the superintendent or that the insurer does not meet minimum capital or

surplus to policyholder requirements.

(2) If the insurer is part of a group of insurance companies which

utilizes a pooling agreement or one hundred percent reinsurance

agreement that affects the solvency and integrity of such insurer's

reserves and such insurer cedes all of its direct and assumed business

to the pool, then such insurer may file audited consolidated or combined

financial statements in lieu of separate annual audited financial

statements provided that a consolidating or combining exhibit be filed

that clearly reconciles amounts in the audited financial statement to

the individual company annual statements. In addition, an insurer may

comply by filing statements prepared in accordance with generally

accepted accounting principles, provided that appropriate reconciliation

is made of the differences between net income and capital and surplus

reported on that basis and that reported in the annual statutory

statement filed with the superintendent.

(3) In lieu of the requirements of this subsection, the superintendent

may accept copies of filings of audited financial statements required by

another state where they are found to be substantially similar to the

requirements herein. Upon written application of any insurer, extensions

of the filing date and exemptions from the filing requirements may be

granted by the superintendent, if the superintendent finds, upon review

of the application, that compliance would constitute a financial or

organizational hardship upon the insurer.