6902. Organization; financial requirements. (a) A financial guaranty insurance corporation may be organized and licensed in the manner prescribed in section one thousand two hundred one of this chapter and a foreign insurer may be licensed in the manner prescribed in section one thousand one hundred six of this chapter, except as modified by the following provisions:
(1) a corporation organized for the purpose of transacting financial guaranty insurance may, subject to all the applicable provisions of this chapter, be licensed to transact only the following additional kinds of insurance:
(A) residual value insurance, as defined in paragraph twenty-two of subsection (a) of section one thousand one hundred thirteen of this chapter;
(B) surety insurance, as defined in subparagraphs (C), (D), (E), (F), (G), (H) and (I) of paragraph sixteen of subsection (a) of section one thousand one hundred thirteen of this chapter; and
(C) credit insurance, as defined in subparagraph (A) of paragraph seventeen of subsection (a) of section one thousand one hundred thirteen of this chapter;
(2) a financial guaranty insurance corporation may only assume those kinds of insurance for which it is licensed to write direct business;
(3) prior to the issuance of a license, unless a plan of operation has been previously approved by the superintendent, a corporation shall submit for the approval of the superintendent a plan of operation, detailing the types and projected diversification of guaranties that will be issued, the underwriting procedures that will be followed, managerial oversight methods, investment policies, and such other matters as may be prescribed by the superintendent; and
(4) a financial guaranty insurance corporation's investments in any one entity insured by that corporation shall not exceed four percent of its admitted assets at last year-end, except that this limit shall not apply to investments payable or guaranteed by a United States governmental unit or New York state if such investments payable or guaranteed by the United States governmental unit or New York state shall be rated in one of the top two generic lettered rating classifications by a securities rating agency acceptable to the superintendent.
(5) in addition to any transaction that an insurer meeting the requirements of subsection (c) of section one thousand four hundred three of this chapter may effect and maintain under any other provision of this chapter, a financial guaranty insurance corporation may effect and maintain transactions in (A) contracts for the future delivery or receipt of the currency of a foreign country, (B) interest rate options, (C) credit default swaps under which the insurer is acquiring credit protection and (D) other products included in the plan referred to in clause (vii) of this subparagraph, in each case meeting the following requirements:
(i) the transaction is used for the purpose of limiting risk of loss under financial guaranty insurance policies or reinsurance contracts covering such policies due to fluctuations in interest rates or currency exchange rates or, in the case of credit default swaps, financial default, insolvency or other credit events;
(ii) the transaction shall not exceed a duration of twelve months beyond the term of such policies or reinsurance contracts;
(iii) the amount of foreign currencies to be purchased under the transaction shall not exceed the amount guaranteed under such policies or reinsurance contracts that is denominated in foreign currency;
(iv) the amount that is subject to interest rate hedging transactions does not exceed the amount guaranteed under such policies or reinsurance contracts that is subject to the risk of interest rate fluctuations;
(v) the counterparty to such transaction has (or is the principal operating subsidiary of a holding company that has) a long term unsecured debt rating or claims-paying ability rating that is at least investment grade;
(vi) the transaction is not conducted for arbitrage purposes; and
(vii) the transaction is entered into pursuant to a plan that has been approved by the board of directors of the financial guaranty insurance corporation and filed with and approved by the superintendent.
(b) (1) A financial guaranty insurance corporation shall not transact business unless it has paid-in capital of at least two million five hundred thousand dollars and paid-in surplus of at least seventy-two million five hundred thousand dollars, and shall at all times thereafter maintain a minimum surplus to policyholders of at least sixty-five million dollars.
(2) An insurer transacting only financial guaranty insurance prior to the effective date of this article which has a paid-in capital of at least two million five hundred thousand dollars and maintains surplus to policyholders of at least forty-five million dollars shall have thirty-six months from the effective date of this article to fully comply with the surplus requirements set forth in paragraph one of this subsection.
(3) A financial guaranty insurance company shall be deemed to be in compliance with paragraphs one and two of subsection (b) of section one thousand four hundred two of this chapter if not less than sixty percent of the amount of the required minimum capital or minimum surplus to policyholder investments shall consist of the types specified in paragraphs one and two of subsection (b) of section one thousand four hundred two of this chapter and direct government obligations of any state of the United States or of any county, district or municipality thereof, provided such government obligations have been given the highest quality designation of the Securities Valuation Office of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. Before investing any part of the required minimum capital or surplus in direct government obligations of any other state of the United States or of any county, district or municipality thereof, such financial guaranty insurance company shall have invested at least ten percent of such required minimum in government obligations of New York state or of any county, district or municipality thereof. Only for purposes of meeting the required investment in government obligations of New York state, the insurer may count investments in any government obligation of New York state, whether direct or otherwise.
Last modified: February 3, 2019