(1) Any foreign insurer which is authorized or which may be authorized to do business in this state for the purpose of writing insurance may become a domestic insurer by complying with all of the requirements of law relative to the organization and licensing of a domestic insurer of the same type. Said domestic insurer shall be entitled to like certificates and licenses to transact business in this state and shall be subject to the authority and jurisdiction of this state.
Any domestic insurer may, upon the approval of the commissioner, transfer its domicile to any other state in which it is authorized to transact the business of insurance and, upon such a transfer, shall cease to be a domestic insurer and shall be admitted to this state if qualified as a foreign insurer. The commissioner shall approve any such proposed transfer unless he determines that such transfer is not in the interest of the policyholders of this state.
Any foreign insurance company admitted or which may be admitted to transact business in this state may, upon proper notice to the commissioner, change its domicile by merger, consolidation, or otherwise to another foreign state without interruption of its license and without reapplying as a foreign insurer if:
The change in domicile does not result in a reduction in the company's assets orsurplus below the requirements for admission as a foreign insurer; and
There is no substantial change in the lines of insurance to be written by the company;and
The change in domicile has been approved by the supervising regulatory officials ofboth the former and new state of domicile.
(4) The certificate of authority, the agents' appointments and licenses, and the rates and other items which the commissioner allows, in his discretion, which are in existence at the time any insurer transfers its corporate domicile to this or any other state by merger, consolidation, or any other lawful method shall continue in full force and effect upon such transfer if such insurer remains duly qualified to transact the business of insurance in this state. All outstanding policies of any transferring insurer shall remain in full force and effect. In the event of a company name change, all outstanding policies shall be endorsed with the company's new name. Every transferring insurer shall file new policy forms with the commissioner on or before the effective date of the transfer. Such insurers may use existing policy forms with appropriate endorsements if allowed by and under such conditions as approved by the commissioner. Every such transferring insurer shall notify the commissioner of the details of the proposed transfer and shall file promptly any resulting amendments to corporate documents filed or required to be filed with the commissioner.
Source: L. 89: Entire section added, p. 443, § 1, effective April 19.