627.973
Limitations. ---
(1) Financial guaranty insurance shall be transacted
in this state only by a corporation licensed for such purpose,
except that a property and casualty insurer transacting business
pursuant to the provisions of this code may transact financial
guaranty insurance in this state if the following conditions are
met:
(a) Total policyholders' surplus exceeds $100
million;
(b) Not more than 20 percent of total net premiums written
are applicable to or for financial guaranty insurance;
(c) The provisions of this part are applied to the
insurer's financial guaranty insurance business;
(d) Not more than 20 percent of the insurer's total
policyholder's surplus is applied toward meeting the provisions of
this part;
(e) The policyholders' surplus once utilized to meet the
requirements of this part shall not be available for meeting any
policyholders' surplus requirements for any other type of
insurance;
(f) The insurer is licensed to write financial guaranty
insurance; and
(g) Unless the insurer is transacting financial guaranty
insurance prior to July 1, 1988, and otherwise meets the
requirements of this section, prior to the issuance of a license,
the insurer must submit to the department for approval, a plan of
operation complying with s. 627.972(1)(b).
(2) Financial guaranty insurance shall be written only
to insure obligations defined in s. 627.971(1)(a)1., except that
obligations defined in s. 627.971(1)(a)2., 3., 4., and 5. may be
written with the prior written approval of the department pursuant
to limitations and restrictions promulgated by rule that the
department deems appropriate and necessary to protect the
policyholders of the insurer.
(3) At least 95 percent of the outstanding total
liability on municipal obligation bonds of an insurer transacting
financial guaranty insurance must be investment grade.
(4) An insurer transacting financial guaranty
insurance must at all times maintain capital, surplus, and
contingency reserves, subject to the restrictions in paragraph
(1)(d) if applicable, in the aggregate no less than the sum of:
(a) One-third of one percent of the total liabilities
outstanding under guaranties of municipal obligation bonds;
(b) One percent of the total liabilities outstanding under
guaranties of investment grade obligations, including industrial
development bonds and investment grade consumer debt
obligations;
(c) One and one-third percent of the total liabilities
outstanding under guaranties of noninvestment grade consumer debt
obligations;
(d) Two percent of the total liabilities outstanding under
guaranties of other obligations not of investment grade, other
than consumer debt obligations; and
(e) Surplus determined by the department to be adequate to
support the writing of residual value insurance, surety insurance,
and credit insurance, if the corporation has elected to transact
these kinds of insurance pursuant to s. 627.972(1).
(5) An insurer transacting financial guaranty
insurance must limit its exposure to loss, net of collateral and
reinsurance, as follows:
(a) For municipal bonds:
1. The insured average annual debt service with respect
to any one entity and backed by a single revenue source may not
exceed 10 percent of the aggregate of the corporation's capital,
surplus, and contingency reserves, subject to the restrictions of
paragraph (1)(d) if applicable; and
2. The insured unpaid principal issued by a single entity
and backed by a single revenue source may not exceed 75 percent of
the aggregate of the corporation's capital, surplus, and
contingency reserves, subject to the restrictions in paragraph
(1)(d) if applicable; and
(b) For all other financial guaranties, the insured unpaid
principal for any one risk may not exceed 10 percent of the
aggregate of the corporation's capital, surplus, and contingency
reserves, subject to the restrictions in paragraph (1)(d) if
applicable. Single risk liability shall be defined with respect to
any one issuer, except that, if the risk is payable from a
specified revenue source or adequately secured by loan obligations
or other assets, such risk shall be defined by the revenue
source.
(6) If the exposure to loss of an insurer transacting
financial guaranty insurance exceeds the limitations in subsection
(4), it may not transact any new financial guaranty insurance
business until its exposure to loss no longer exceeds those
limitations.
(7) An insurer which wrote financial guaranty
insurance in this state during the 12-month period immediately
preceding July 1, 1988, but which does not meet the requirements of
subsection (1) or of s. 627.972(2), may, nevertheless, continue to
write financial guaranty insurance as authorized by subsection (2)
after July 1, 1988, subject to all other provisions of this part,
provided:
(a) Within 45 days after such date the insurer files with
the department a statement of its intentions to limit its writings
to financial guaranty, surety, and fidelity insurance. Effective
upon such filing, the insurer shall be subject to the requirements
of this part except that the surplus to policyholders requirement
of s. 627.972(2) shall not apply to such insurer until July 1,
1998, at which time such insurer shall have and thereafter maintain
the minimum surplus requirement of at least $35 million. Failure
of the insurer to meet the conditions of such statement of intent
filed with the department, until such time as it meets the
requirements of subsection (1), shall be grounds to subject the
insurer to the penalties provided under this code, including
immediate suspension or revocation of its certificate of authority.
If the insurer does not file such statement of intent, it shall
cease writing any new financial guaranty insurance business within
6 months after the effective date of this act. The insurer may:
1. Reinsure its net in-force business with a licensed
financial guaranty insurance corporation or an insurer exempt under
subsection (1);
2. Subject to the prior approval of its domiciliary
insurance commissioner, reinsure all or part of its net in-force
business pursuant to s. 627.975(1)(b), except that subparagraphs 2.
and 4. do not apply. The assuming insurer must maintain reserves
for the reinsured business in the manner applicable to the ceding
insurer under paragraph (b); or
3. May continue the risks in force and, with 30 days
prior written notice to its domiciliary insurance commissioner,
write new financial guaranty policies if the writing of those
policies is reasonably prudent to mitigate either the amount of or
possibility of loss in connection with business written prior to
July 1, 1988. However, an insurer must receive the prior approval
of its domiciliary insurance commissioner before writing any new
financial guaranty insurance policies that would increase its risk
of loss.
(b) Must, for all guaranties in force prior to July 1,
1988, including those which fall under the definition of financial
guaranty insurance, maintain the reserves applicable for municipal
bond guaranties in effect prior to July 1, 1988. If the insurer's
contingency reserves maintained as of July 1, 1988, are less than
those required for municipal bond guaranties, the insurer has 3
years to bring its reserves into compliance, except that a part of
the reserve may be released proportional to the reduction in net
total liabilities resulting from reinsurance if the reinsurer, on
the effective date of the reinsurance, establishes a reserve in an
amount equal to the amount released and except that a part of the
reserve may be released with departmental approval, upon
demonstration that the amount carried is excessive in relation to
the corporation's outstanding obligations.
(c) Shall be subject to the reserve requirements
applicable to financial guaranty insurance corporations, for
business written on or after July 1, 1988.
(d) This subsection shall not apply to insurers permitted
to write financial guaranty insurance pursuant to the exception set
forth in subsection (1) and such insurers may write financial
guaranty insurance subject to the requirements of the Florida
Insurance Code.
History: ss. 1, 6, ch. 88-87; s. 114, ch. 92-318.