Enterprise Risk Reports Due Soon

This is a friendly reminder that the deadline for filing enterprise risk reports is fast approaching in states that require them. While the due date varies by state, it is generally tied to the due date for the annual holding company registration statement, which is April 30 in most states (although in Pennsylvania, for example, it is March 31). 

Twenty-four states¹ have now amended their insurance holding company statutes and/or regulations to require the ultimate controlling person of a domestic insurer to file an enterprise risk report. Following the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) model law, most of these states require an enterprise risk report to be filed with the lead state commissioner of the insurance holding company system as determined by the procedures within the Financial Analysis Handbook adopted by the NAIC. Note, however, that California requires insurance holding companies that control one or more California-domestic insurers to file a copy of the report with the California commissioner even if California is not the lead state.

The New York requirements are somewhat broader than the requirements under the NAIC framework. As previously noted in our August 2013 bulletin, the New York Insurance Law (NYIL) was amended on July 31, 2013 to require the following entities to file an enterprise risk report with the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) by April 30 of each year:

• The ultimate controlling person of all New York-licensed insurers that are part of a holding company system (regardless of whether New York is the lead state); and
• All New York-domiciled insurers that control one or more subsidiaries (unless they are part of a holding company system described in the preceding bullet).

The NYDFS recently published for comment proposed new Insurance Regulation 203, which specifies the items required to be included in the enterprise risk report. If adopted as proposed, the regulation would also require an annual enterprise risk report to be filed by the following insurers:

• New York-domiciled insurers that are not members of a holding company system, but that write annual direct written premiums and unaffiliated assumed premiums totaling $500 million or more.

Although Regulation 203 is technically only a proposed regulation, we understand that the NYDFS intends to promulgate the regulation (with some revisions made in response to comments received) as an emergency regulation so that it will be in force prior to April 30, 2014, the statutory deadline for holding companies to file an enterprise risk report.

Insurance companies domiciled in one of the other states that have adopted the enterprise risk report requirement should determine the lead state to which the report must be submitted and be prepared to file it in accordance with the applicable deadline. Insurers should check the applicable deadline based on state of domicile and other states where they transact business.

If you need assistance determining whether these provisions apply or with preparing the filing, or if you would like more information about the topics raised in this Legal Update, please consult your usual Mayer Brown contact or any of the following lawyers: James R. Woods at +1 212 506 2390, Lawrence R. Hamilton at +1 312 701 7055, Nicole M. Zayac at +1 650 331 2066, Vikram Sidhu at +1 212 506 2105, or Hilary Kang at +1 650 331 2039.

¹ California, Connecticut, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming