Wednesday, May 21, 2008

TWO REPORTS OF NOTE

Two annual reports of the Superintendent of Insurance required by New York’s insurance law have been issued in the last few weeks: one of which is readily available and the other that is available only through a request under the Freedom of Information Law.

The readily available report is the 2007 Annual Report of the Superintendent of Insurance to the New York Legislature required by Section 206 of the Insurance Law. This 268 page report, which is available as a pdf document through the Department’s website (http://ins.state.ny.us/), is cram full of information about the insurance business in New York and the regulation of the business. For instance, the report contains consolidated summaries of the statements filed by insurers showing such things as the number and kinds of authorized insurers by class of business, total assets, liabilities, premiums written and insurance in force. On the regulatory side, the report includes summaries of new regulations and circular letters, lists of reports of examinations completed, and lists of insurers organized, admitted, merged withdrawn, or placed in liquidation, rehabilitation or conservation.

If you dig statistics, as I do, you may find some of the data on the Department itself to be most fascinating. For instance, did you know that for the calendar year 2007 the Insurance Department:

Employed 961 people of whom 647 were located in New York City, 289 in Albany and 25 elsewhere?

Employed more attorneys (69) than actuaries (61) or investigators (43)?

Issued 153,909 licenses during 2007 to adjusters, agents, brokers, consultants, reinsurance intermediaries and service contract registrants?

Collected receipts totaling $742,245,640.94 and incurred Department expenses of $188,250,888.74?

Much of this information is required by the laundry list set forth in Section 206, although the report has evolved over the years into a very comprehensive annual almanac. If you are interested in researching the business of insurance in New York or in the minutia of the activities of the New York Insurance Department, this report is a great place to start.

The second report of note is the 2007 Annual Report of the Superintendent of Insurance as Liquidator or Rehabilitator required by Section 7405(g). This report is required to include a financial review of the assets and liabilities, and the claims paid or approved for each domestic insurer in liquidation or rehabilitation, and a summary of all other corporate activity and a narrative of the actions of the liquidator or rehabilitator for each company. (This statutorily dictated report should not be confused with the “2007 Year-End Report” posted by the New York Liquidation Bureau on its web site back in January, which basically rehashes all of the Bureau’s 2007 press releases).

The report required by Section 7405(g) – while not nearly as comprehensive as reports required by solvent companies -- is the only meaningful information required to be compiled by the Superintendent of Insurance about the companies for which he acts as receiver. Yet this report cannot be found on the web site of either the Insurance Department or the Liquidation Bureau, and can only be obtained by making a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request to the Insurance Department.

The justification for this restrictive availability, I have been told, is that the information contained in the report is unaudited. However, even though the Liquidation Bureau has announced that it is having audits of each estate performed (a process that has been ongoing almost as long as the period being audited), there is no requirement in the law for audited statements of companies in liquidation or rehabilitation. The Section 7405(g) report is the only statutorily required statement of the receiver, and limiting its accessibility does not appear to be within the intent and purpose of the statute.

Furthermore, despite the Bureau’s repeated published statements about being more transparent, the Report actually appears to be a step backwards from prior administrations. For some reason the current administration decided to present the data on the individual companies in liquidation (with one exception) on a consolidated basis rather than by separate statements. While this approach may show the totality of the Bureau's realm, it is not consistent with the statutory requirements or the reality of the process where each estate is a separate and distinct entity.

The report can be obtained by making a FOIL request of the New York Insurance Department. You can get it without cost using the Department’s online FOIL request form indicating you want it sent via e-mail. Hard copy costs 25¢ per page. Do not direct a request to the Liquidation Bureau – it will deny the request on the basis that it is not a state agency subject to FOIL. Once again, so much for transparency!


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