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Searching 2023-2024 Session

The Vermont Statutes Online

The Vermont Statutes Online have been updated to include the actions of the 2023 session of the General Assembly.

NOTE: The Vermont Statutes Online is an unofficial copy of the Vermont Statutes Annotated that is provided as a convenience.

Title 8 : Banking and Insurance

Chapter 131 : Licensing Requirements

Subchapter 002 : Regulation of Managing General Agents, Reinsurance Intermediaries, and Producer-Controlled Insurers

(Cite as: 8 V.S.A. § 4815)
  • § 4815. Definitions

    As used in this subchapter:

    (1) “Actuary” shall have the same meaning as in section 3577 of this title.

    (2) “Accredited state” means a state in which the insurance department or regulatory agency has qualified as meeting the minimum financial regulatory standards promulgated and established from time to time by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.

    (3) “Control” or “controlled” shall have the same meaning as in chapter 101, subchapter 13 of this title.

    (4) “Controlled insurer” means a licensed insurer that is controlled, directly or indirectly, by a producer.

    (5) “Controlling producer” means a producer who, directly or indirectly, controls an insurer.

    (6) “Licensed insurer” or “insurer” means any person, firm, association, or corporation duly licensed to transact an insurance business in this State. The following are not licensed insurers for the purposes of this subchapter:

    (A) all residual market pools and joint underwriting authorities or associations; and

    (B) all captive insurers as defined in chapter 141 of this title, except risk retention groups.

    (7)(A) “Managing general agent” means any person who:

    (i) manages all or part of the insurance business of an insurer and acts as an agent for such insurer, and, who, either separately or together with affiliates, produces, directly or indirectly, and underwrites an amount of gross written premium greater than or equal to five percent of the policyholder surplus of the insurer in any one quarter or year; and

    (ii) engages in one or more of the following activities on the business produced:

    (I) adjusts or pays claims in excess of $10,000.00; or

    (II) negotiates reinsurance on behalf of the insurer.

    (B) Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision (A) of this subdivision (7), the following persons shall not be considered as managing general agents for the purposes of this chapter:

    (i) an employee of the insurer;

    (ii) a U.S. manager of the U.S. branch of an alien insurer;

    (iii) an underwriting manager who, pursuant to contract, manages all or part of the insurance operations of the insurer, is under common control with the insurer, subject to the holding company regulatory act, and whose compensation is not based on the volume of premiums written, or if based on the volume of premiums written, is also based on the insurer earning a profit on the business written by such underwriting manager; and

    (iv) the attorney-in-fact authorized by and acting for the subscribers of a reciprocal insurer or interinsurance exchange under powers of attorney.

    (8) “Producer” means an agent, broker, or reinsurance intermediary licensed pursuant to subchapter 1 of this chapter.

    (9) “Reinsurance intermediary” means a reinsurance intermediary-broker or a reinsurance intermediary-manager as defined in subdivisions (10) and (11) of this section.

    (10) “Reinsurance intermediary-broker” means any person, other than an officer or employee of the ceding insurer, who solicits, negotiates, or places reinsurance cessions or retrocessions on behalf of a ceding insurer without the authority or power to bind reinsurance on behalf of such insurer.

    (11)(A) “Reinsurance intermediary-manager” means any person who has authority to bind or manages all or part of the assumed reinsurance business of a reinsurer, including the management of a separate division, department, or underwriting office, and acts as an agent for such reinsurer whether known as a reinsurance intermediary-manager, manager, or other similar term.

    (B) Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision (A) of this subdivision (11), the following persons shall not be considered a reinsurance intermediary-manager, with respect to such reinsurer, for the purposes of this subchapter:

    (i) an employee of the reinsurer;

    (ii) a U.S. manager of the U.S. branch of an alien reinsurer;

    (iii) an underwriting manager who, pursuant to contract, manages all the reinsurance operations of the reinsurer, is under common control with the reinsurer, and whose compensation is not based on the volume of premiums written; and

    (iv) the manager of a group, association, pool, or organization of insurers that engage in joint underwriting or joint reinsurance and who are subject to examination by the insurance commissioner of the state in which the manager’s principal business office is located.

    (12) “Reinsurer” means any person, firm, association, or corporation duly licensed in this State pursuant to the applicable provisions of the insurance law as an insurer with the authority to assume reinsurance.

    (13) “Underwrite” means the authority to accept or reject risk on behalf of the insurer. (Added 1991, No. 249 (Adj. Sess.), § 18, eff. Jan. 1, 1993; amended 2013, No. 103 (Adj. Sess.), § 2, eff. April 14, 2014.)