(a) The Commissioner or any of the Commissioner's examiners may conduct an examination under this section of any company as often as the Commissioner in the Commissioner's sole discretion deems appropriate, but shall, at a minimum, conduct an examination of every insurer licensed in this State but not less frequently than every 5 years. In scheduling and determining the nature, scope and frequency of the examinations, the Commissioner shall consider such matters as the results of financial statement analyses and ratios, changes in management or ownership, actuarial opinions, reports of independent certified public accountants and other criteria as set forth in the Examiner's Handbook adopted by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners and in effect when the Commissioner exercises discretion under this section. Examination of an alien insurer shall be limited to its insurance transactions, assets, trust deposits and affairs in the United States except as otherwise required by the Commissioner.
(b) The Commissioner shall examine, in like manner, each insurer applying for an initial certificate of authority to transact insurance in this State.
(c) In lieu of making an examination, the Commissioner may accept, in the Commissioner's discretion, a full report of the most recent examination of a foreign or alien insurer, certified to by the insurance supervisory official of another state.
(d) As far as practical, the examination of a foreign or alien insurer shall be made in cooperation with the insurance supervisory officials of other states in which the insurer transacts business.
(e) In lieu of an examination under this section of any foreign or alien insurer licensed in this State, the Commissioner may accept an examination report on such company as prepared by the insurance department for the company's state of domicile or port-of-entry state, so long as:
(1) The insurance department, at the time of the examination, was accredited under the National Association of Insurance Commissioners' Financial Regulation Standards and Accreditation Program; or
(2) The examination is performed under the supervision of an accredited insurance department, or with the participation of 1 or more examiners, who are employed by such an accredited state insurance department, and who, after a review of the examination work papers and report, state under oath that the examination was performed in a manner consistent with the standards and procedures required by their insurance department.
(f) The Commissioner shall also conduct examinations as required by § 2301E of Title 19 [repealed].