Odomirok 11 Flashcards
The purpose of the General Interrogatories section of the annual statment
- Provide additional clarity to the users of the Annual Statement
- Identify areas that need further regulatory review
Two parts to the General Interrogatories
- Part 1, Common Interrogatories: general questions applicable to life, health, and P&C insurers
- Part 2: questions specific to the type of insurer (P&C)
Purpose of Part 1, Common Interrogatories
To give more details about the company’s:
- operations
- business practices
- types of internal and external controls in place
Five sections of Part 1, Common Interrogatories
- General
- Board of Directors
- Financial
- Investment
- Other
General section of Part 1
Questions about:
- Holding company relationships
- Latest regulatory financial exams
- Excessive sales commission levels
- Merger activity
- Suspension of licenses
- Foreign control
- Exemptions from required regulations
- Whether senior management is subject to a code of ethics
Possible insights from General section of Part 1
- If it has suspended licenses or does not comply with regulations, perhaps it lacks internal discipline
- If it has high commission levels, maybe it is sacrificing its commission in order to maintain or grow business.
Required disclosures in General section of Part 1
- Name and address of the independent CPA that conducts the annual audit (to ensure that there are no material errors in the financials; and that they are prepared in accordance with the accounting principles)
- Appointed Actuary (name, address, and affiliation): users can contact the Actuary regarding any questions about the SAO.
Details about latest financial exam in General section of Part 1
- Date of the latest exam
- Date through which the statements were evaluated
- Release date for the examiner’s report
- Name of department performing the exam
- Whether the insurer has complied with all adjustments and recommendations from the examination report.
Board of directors section of Part 1
Focus on the board’s role in overseeing the company’s operations; includes questions regarding:
- Role of the board in approving the purchase/sale of investments
- Does the company have a process in place to notify the board of conflicts of interest within senior management?
- Whether the permanent records of the board proceedings are retained.
Financial section of Part 1
Contains questions regarding:
- Whether the financials were developed using an accounting system other than SAP.
- Loans made to senior leadership and other stakeholders
- Assets that the insurer was obliged to transfer to another party which were not reported as liabilities
- Assessments other than guaranty fund assessments
- Amounts due from affiliates
Possible insights from Financial section of Part 1
- If the insurer has financial obligations that were not reported in the Annual Statement
- If the insurer has been providing significant financial support to its stakeholders/affiliates
Investment section of Part 1
Questions regarding:
- Assets & investment decisions
- Security lending programs and associated collateral
- Hedging programs
- Mandatory convertible stocks or bonds
- Compliance with NAIC “Purposes and Procedures Manual”
Focus is on the amount of control that the insurer has over its operations; and its compliance with the rules.
Other section of Part 1
Contains questions about payments made to:
- trade associations
- service organizations
- statistical and rating bureaus
- attorneys and others regarding legislative/regulatory matters
In particular, the insurer needs to list the names of any organizations that received over 25% of the total, so users can determine if it has a strong influence on a particular organization.
Questions in P&C Interrogatories that are relevant to actuaries
Questions about:
- Exposure to catastrophic events and excessive loss
- The process used to calculate the PML (Probable Maximum Loss)
- Level of reinsurance protection
- If there are any limiting provisions within reinsurance contracts, guaranteed policies, and retrospectively rated policies
- Any releases of liability under reinsured policies (where the company may have to reassume liability)
- Exposure to warranty business (the adequacy of the UEPR would be important)
Finite reinsurance
“reinsurance” that does not transfer underwriting or timing risk; therefore, it should be treated as deposit accounting