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The Florida Senate

2012 Florida Statutes

Title XXXVII INSURANCE
Chapter 624 INSURANCE CODE: ADMINISTRATION AND GENERAL PROVISIONS Entire Chapter
SECTION 424
Annual statement and other information.
F.S. 624.424
624.424 Annual statement and other information.—
(1)(a) Each authorized insurer shall file with the office full and true statements of its financial condition, transactions, and affairs. An annual statement covering the preceding calendar year shall be filed on or before March 1, and quarterly statements covering the periods ending on March 31, June 30, and September 30 shall be filed within 45 days after each such date. The office may, for good cause, grant an extension of time for filing of an annual or quarterly statement. The statements shall contain information generally included in insurers’ financial statements prepared in accordance with generally accepted insurance accounting principles and practices and in a form generally utilized by insurers for financial statements, sworn to by at least two executive officers of the insurer or, if a reciprocal insurer, by the oath of the attorney in fact or its like officer if a corporation. To facilitate uniformity in financial statements and to facilitate office analysis, the commission may by rule adopt the form for financial statements approved by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners in 2002, and may adopt subsequent amendments thereto if the methodology remains substantially consistent, and may by rule require each insurer to submit to the office or such organization as the office may designate all or part of the information contained in the financial statement in a computer-readable form compatible with the electronic data processing system specified by the office.
(b) Each insurer’s annual statement must contain a statement of opinion on loss and loss adjustment expense reserves made by a member of the American Academy of Actuaries or by a qualified loss reserve specialist, under criteria established by rule of the commission. In adopting the rule, the commission must consider any criteria established by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. The office may require semiannual updates of the annual statement of opinion as to a particular insurer if the office has reasonable cause to believe that such reserves are understated to the extent of materially misstating the financial position of the insurer. Workpapers in support of the statement of opinion must be provided to the office upon request. This paragraph does not apply to life insurance or title insurance.
(c) The commission may by rule require reports or filings required under the insurance code to be submitted by electronic means in a computer-readable form compatible with the electronic data processing equipment specified by the commission.
(2) The statement of an alien insurer shall be verified by the insurer’s United States manager or other officer duly authorized. It shall be a separate statement, to be known as its general statement, of its transactions, assets, and affairs within the United States unless the office requires otherwise. If the office requires a statement as to the insurer’s affairs elsewhere, the insurer shall file such statement with the office as soon as reasonably possible.
(3) Each insurer having a deposit as required under s. 624.411 shall file with the office annually with its annual statement a certificate to the effect that the assets so deposited have a market value equal to or in excess of the amount of deposit so required.
(4) At the time of filing, the insurer shall pay the fee for filing its annual statement in the amount specified in s. 624.501.
(5) The office may refuse to continue, or may suspend or revoke, the certificate of authority of an insurer failing to file its annual or quarterly statements and accompanying certificates when due.
(6) In addition to information called for and furnished in connection with its annual or quarterly statements, an insurer shall furnish to the office as soon as reasonably possible such information as to its transactions or affairs as the office may from time to time request in writing. All such information furnished pursuant to the office’s request shall be verified by the oath of two executive officers of the insurer or, if a reciprocal insurer, by the oath of the attorney in fact or its like officers if a corporation.
(7) The signatures of all such persons when written on annual or quarterly statements or other reports required by this section shall be presumed to have been so written by authority of the person whose signature is affixed thereon. The affixing of any signature by anyone other than the purported signer constitutes a felony of the second degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084.
(8)(a) All authorized insurers must have conducted an annual audit by an independent certified public accountant and must file an audited financial report with the office on or before June 1 for the preceding year ending December 31. The office may require an insurer to file an audited financial report earlier than June 1 upon 90 days’ advance notice to the insurer. The office may immediately suspend an insurer’s certificate of authority by order if an insurer’s failure to file required reports, financial statements, or information required by this subsection or rule adopted pursuant thereto creates a significant uncertainty as to the insurer’s continuing eligibility for a certificate of authority.
(b) Any authorized insurer otherwise subject to this section having direct premiums written in this state of less than $1 million in any calendar year and fewer than 1,000 policyholders or certificateholders of directly written policies nationwide at the end of such calendar year is exempt from this section for such year unless the office makes a specific finding that compliance is necessary in order for the office to carry out its statutory responsibilities. However, any insurer having assumed premiums pursuant to contracts or treaties or reinsurance of $1 million or more is not exempt. Any insurer subject to an exemption must submit by March 1 following the year to which the exemption applies an affidavit sworn to by a responsible officer of the insurer specifying the amount of direct premiums written in this state and number of policyholders or certificateholders.
(c) The board of directors of an insurer shall hire the certified public accountant that prepares the audit required by this subsection and the board shall establish an audit committee of three or more directors of the insurer or an affiliated company. The audit committee shall be responsible for discussing audit findings and interacting with the certified public accountant with regard to her or his findings. The audit committee shall be comprised solely of members who are free from any relationship that, in the opinion of its board of directors, would interfere with the exercise of independent judgment as a committee member. The audit committee shall report to the board any findings of adverse financial conditions or significant deficiencies in internal controls that have been noted by the accountant. The insurer may request the office to waive this requirement of the audit committee membership based upon unusual hardship to the insurer.
(d) An insurer may not use the same accountant or partner of an accounting firm responsible for preparing the report required by this subsection for more than 5 consecutive years. Following this period, the insurer may not use such accountant or partner for a period of 5 years, but may use another accountant or partner of the same firm. An insurer may request the office to waive this prohibition based upon an unusual hardship to the insurer and a determination that the accountant is exercising independent judgment that is not unduly influenced by the insurer considering such factors as the number of partners, expertise of the partners or the number of insurance clients of the accounting firm; the premium volume of the insurer; and the number of jurisdictions in which the insurer transacts business.
(e) The commission shall adopt rules to implement this subsection, which rules must be in substantial conformity with the 1998 Model Rule Requiring Annual Audited Financial Reports adopted by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners or subsequent amendments, except where inconsistent with the requirements of this subsection. Any exception to, waiver of, or interpretation of accounting requirements of the commission must be in writing and signed by an authorized representative of the office. No insurer may raise as a defense in any action, any exception to, waiver of, or interpretation of accounting requirements, unless previously issued in writing by an authorized representative of the office.
(9)(a) Each authorized insurer shall, pursuant to s. 409.910(20), provide records and information to the Agency for Health Care Administration to identify potential insurance coverage for claims filed with that agency and its fiscal agents for payment of medical services under the Medicaid program.
(b) Each authorized insurer shall, pursuant to s. 409.2561(5)(c), notify the Medicaid agency of a cancellation or discontinuance of a policy within 30 days if the insurer received notification from the Medicaid agency to do so.
(c) Any information provided by an insurer under this subsection does not violate any right of confidentiality or contract that the insurer may have with covered persons. The insurer is immune from any liability that it may otherwise incur through its release of such information to the Agency for Health Care Administration.
(10) Each insurer or insurer group doing business in this state shall file on a quarterly basis in conjunction with financial reports required by paragraph (1)(a) a supplemental report on an individual and group basis on a form prescribed by the commission with information on personal lines and commercial lines residential property insurance policies in this state. The supplemental report shall include separate information for personal lines property policies and for commercial lines property policies and totals for each item specified, including premiums written for each of the property lines of business as described in ss. 215.555(2)(c) and 627.351(6)(a). The report shall include the following information for each county on a monthly basis:
(a) Total number of policies in force at the end of each month.
(b) Total number of policies canceled.
(c) Total number of policies nonrenewed.
(d) Number of policies canceled due to hurricane risk.
(e) Number of policies nonrenewed due to hurricane risk.
(f) Number of new policies written.
(g) Total dollar value of structure exposure under policies that include wind coverage.
(h) Number of policies that exclude wind coverage.
History.—s. 68, ch. 59-205; ss. 13, 35, ch. 69-106; ss. 1, 2, ch. 70-56; s. 1, ch. 70-439; s. 3, ch. 76-168; s. 1, ch. 77-457; s. 18, ch. 77-468; ss. 2, 3, ch. 81-318; ss. 57, 64, 809(1st), ch. 82-243; s. 5, ch. 83-288; s. 8, ch. 85-245; s. 5, ch. 87-377; s. 9, ch. 89-183; s. 34, ch. 89-360; s. 3, ch. 90-119; s. 6, ch. 90-232; s. 35, ch. 90-295; ss. 20, 187, 188, ch. 91-108; s. 65, ch. 91-282; s. 4, ch. 91-429; s. 7, ch. 93-410; s. 81, ch. 95-211; s. 3, ch. 95-276; s. 186, ch. 97-102; s. 3, ch. 97-214; s. 6, ch. 97-292; s. 2, ch. 98-411; s. 258, ch. 99-8; s. 803, ch. 2003-261; s. 1, ch. 2009-189; s. 5, ch. 2011-174.