The Vermont Statutes Online

Title 8 : Banking and Insurance

Chapter 101 : Insurance Companies Generally

Subchapter 013 : HOLDING COMPANIES AND SUBSIDIARIES

• § 3687. Confidential treatment

  (a) Documents, materials, or other information in the possession or control of the Department that are obtained by or disclosed to the Commissioner or any other person in the course of an examination or investigation made pursuant to section 3686 of this title and all information reported pursuant to subdivisions 3683(b)(12) and (13), section 3684, and section 3685 of this chapter are recognized by this State as being proprietary and to contain trade secrets and shall be given confidential treatment, shall not be subject to subpoena, shall not be subject to public inspection and copying under the Public Records Act, shall not be subject to discovery or admissible in evidence in any private civil action, and shall not be made public by the Commissioner or any other person. However, the Commissioner is authorized to use the documents, materials, or other information in the furtherance of any regulatory or legal action brought as a part of the Commissioner’s official duties. The Commissioner shall not otherwise make the documents, materials, or other information public without the prior written consent of the insurer to which it pertains unless the Commissioner, after giving the insurer and its affiliates who would be affected thereby notice and opportunity to be heard, determines that the interests of policyholders, shareholders, or the public will be served by the publication thereof, in which event the Commissioner may publish all or any part thereof in such manner as the Commissioner may deem appropriate.

  (1) For purposes of the information reported and provided to the Department pursuant to subdivision 3684(m)(2) of this chapter, the Commissioner shall maintain the confidentiality of the group capital calculation and group capital ratio produced within the calculation and any group capital information received from an insurance holding company supervised by the Federal Reserve Board or any U.S. groupwide supervisor.

  (2) For purposes of the information reported and provided to the Department pursuant to subdivision 3684(m)(3) of this chapter, the Commissioner shall maintain the confidentiality of the liquidity stress test results and supporting disclosures and any liquidity stress test information received from an insurance holding company supervised by the Federal Reserve Board and non-U.S. groupwide supervisors.

  (b) Neither the Commissioner nor any person who received documents, materials, or other information while acting under the authority of the Commissioner or with whom such documents, materials, or other information are shared pursuant to this chapter shall be permitted or required to testify in any private civil action concerning any confidential documents, materials, or information subject to subsection (a) of this section.

  (c) In order to assist in the performance of the Commissioner’s duties, the Commissioner:

  (1) May share documents, materials, or other information, including the confidential and privileged documents, materials, or information subject to subsection (a) of this section, including proprietary and trade secret documents and materials, with other state, federal, and international regulatory agencies, with the NAIC, with third-party consultants designated by the Commissioner, and with state, federal, and international law enforcement authorities, including members of any supervisory college described in section 3695 of this title, provided that the recipient agrees in writing to maintain the confidentiality and privileged status of the document, material, or other information and has verified in writing the legal authority to maintain confidentiality.

  (2) Notwithstanding subdivision (1) of this subsection, may only share confidential and privileged documents, material, or information reported pursuant to subdivision 3684(m)(1) of this chapter with commissioners of states having statutes or regulations substantially similar to subsection (a) of this section and who have agreed in writing not to disclose such information.

  (3) May receive documents, materials, or information, including otherwise confidential and privileged documents, materials, or information, including proprietary and trade-secret information, from the NAIC and its affiliates and subsidiaries and from regulatory and law enforcement officials of other foreign or domestic jurisdictions and shall maintain as confidential or privileged any document, material, or information received with notice or the understanding that it is confidential or privileged under the laws of the jurisdiction that is the source of the document, material, or information.

  (4) Shall enter into written agreements with the NAIC and any third-party consultant designated by the Commissioner governing sharing and use of information provided under this chapter consistent with this subsection that shall:

  (A) Specify procedures and protocols regarding the confidentiality and security of information shared with the NAIC or a third-party consultant designated by the Commissioner pursuant to this subchapter, including procedures and protocols for sharing by the NAIC with other state, federal, or international regulators. The agreement shall provide that the recipient agrees in writing to maintain the confidentiality and privileged status of the documents, materials, or other information and has verified in writing the legal authority to maintain such confidentiality.

  (B) Specify that ownership of information shared with the NAIC or a third-party consultant pursuant to this section remains with the Commissioner and the NAIC’s use of the information is subject to the direction of the Commissioner.

  (C) Excluding documents, materials, or information reported pursuant to subdivision 3684(m)(3) of this title, prohibit the NAIC or third-party consultant designated by the Commissioner from storing the information shared pursuant to this subchapter in a permanent database after the underlying analysis is completed.

  (D) Require prompt notice be given to an insurer whose confidential information in the possession of the NAIC or third-party consultant designated by the Commissioner under this subchapter is subject to a request or subpoena to the NAIC or a third-party consultant designated by the Commissioner for disclosure or production.

  (E) Require the NAIC or a third-party consultant designated by the Commissioner to consent to intervention by an insurer in any judicial or administrative action in which the NAIC or third-party consultant designated by the Commissioner may be required to disclose confidential information about the insurer shared with the NAIC or third-party consultant designated by the Commissioner pursuant to this section.

  (F) For documents, materials, or information report pursuant to subdivision 3684(b)(3) of this chapter, in the case of an agreement involving a third-party consultant, provide for notification of the identity of the consultant to the applicable insurers.

  (d) The sharing of information by the Commissioner pursuant to this section shall not constitute a delegation of regulatory authority or rulemaking, and the Commissioner is solely responsible for the administration, execution, and enforcement of the provisions of this section.

  (e) No waiver of any applicable privilege or claim of confidentiality in the documents, materials, or information shall occur as a result of disclosure to the Commissioner under this section or as a result of sharing as authorized in subsection (c) of this section.

  (f) Documents, materials, or other information in the possession or control of the NAIC or third-party consultant designated by the Commissioner pursuant to this subchapter shall be confidential by law and privileged, shall not be subject to public inspection and copying under the Public Records Act, shall not be subject to subpoena, shall not be subject to discovery or admissible in evidence in any private civil action, and shall not be made public by the Commissioner or any other person.

  (g) The group capital calculation and resulting group capital ratio required under subdivision 3684(m)(2) of this subchapter and the liquidity stress test along with its results and supporting disclosures required under subdivision 3684(m)(3) of this subchapter are regulatory tools for assessing group risks and capital adequacy and group liquidity risks, respectively, and are not intended as a means to rank insurers or insurance holding company systems, generally. Therefore, except as otherwise may be required under the provisions of this chapter, the making, publishing, disseminating, circulating or placing before the public, or causing directly or indirectly to be made, published, disseminated, circulated, or placed before the public in a newspaper, magazine, or other publication, or in the form of a notice, circular, pamphlet, letter, or poster, or over any radio or television station or any electronic means of communication available to the public, or in any other way as an advertisement, announcement, or statement containing a representation or statement with regard to the group capital calculation, group capital ratio, the liquidity stress test results, or supporting disclosures for the liquidity stress test of any insurer or any insurer group, or of any component derived in the calculation by any insurer, broker, or other person engaged in any manner in the insurance business would be misleading and is therefore prohibited. However, if any materially false statement with respect to the group capital calculation, resulting group capital ratio, an inappropriate comparison of any amount to an insurer’s or insurance group’s group capital calculation or resulting group capital ratio, liquidity stress test result, supporting disclosures for the liquidity stress test, or an inappropriate comparison of any amount to an insurer’s or insurance group’s liquidity stress test result or supporting disclosures is published in any written publication and the insurer is able to demonstrate to the Commissioner with substantial proof the falsity of such statement or the inappropriateness, as the case may be, then the insurer may publish announcements in a written publication if the sole purpose of the announcement is to rebut the materially false statement. (Added 1971, No. 72, § 2; amended 2013, No. 29, § 33, eff. May 13, 2013; 2023, No. 110 (Adj. Sess.), § 27, eff. July 1, 2024.)