Required Investments; Limitations

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  2. Georgia Code
  3. Insurance
  4. Investments
  5. Investments of Certain Insurers
  6. Required Investments; Limitations

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An insurer shall invest in or hold as admitted assets categories of investments that fall within the applicable limits listed in paragraphs (1) through (3) of this Code section:

  1. ONE PERSON. Any insurer shall not, except with the Commissioner's consent, have at any one time any combinations of investments in or loans upon the security of the obligations, property, or securities of any one person, institution, corporation, or municipal corporation, aggregating an amount in excess of 10 percent of the insurer's admitted assets. This restriction shall not apply as to general obligations of the United States of America or of the government of Canada or of any state, nor include policy loans under this article;
  2. VOTING STOCK. An insurer shall not invest in or hold at any one time more than 10 percent of the outstanding voting stock of any corporation, except with the Commissioner's consent. This provision does not apply as to stock of a substantially wholly owned insurance subsidiary of the insurer, but the prior written consent of the Commissioner shall be required for investment in a subsidiary;
  3. MINIMUM CAPITAL. An insurer shall invest and maintain invested funds not less in amount than the minimum paid-in capital stock required under this title of a domestic stock insurer transacting like kinds of insurance, only in the following:
    1. Cash;
    2. Certificates of deposit or similar certificates or evidences of deposit in banks and trust companies to the extent that the certificates or deposits are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation;
    3. Savings accounts, certificates of deposit, or similar certificates or evidences of deposit in savings and loan associations and building and loan associations to the extent that the same are insured by the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation;
    4. The securities provided for under Code Section 33-11-9;
    5. The securities provided for under Code Section 33-11-11;
    6. The securities provided for under Code Section 33-11-12;
    7. The securities provided for under Code Section 33-11-13; and
    8. The securities provided for under Code Section 33-11-25;
  4. INVESTMENT OF RESERVES. In addition to the investments in paragraph (3) of this Code section, an insurer shall invest and keep invested its funds in amounts not less than 100 percent of the reserves provided for by this title, in cash or the securities or investments authorized under this article; provided, however, that an amount equal to not less than 75 percent of the reserves shall be invested in securities other than common stocks;
  5. OTHER SPECIFIC LIMITS. Limits as to investments in the category of real estate shall be as provided in Code Sections 33-11-29 through 33-11-32; provided, however, that, except as authorized by subsection (b) of Code Section 33-11-29, all such investments shall not exceed the lesser of 10 percent of admitted assets or 50 percent of the policyholder's surplus; and other specific limits shall apply as stated in Code sections dealing with other respective kinds of investments.

(Code 1933, § 56-1005, enacted by Ga. L. 1960, p. 289, § 1; Ga. L. 1966, p. 240, § 1; Ga. L. 1980, p. 1108, § 4; Ga. L. 1992, p. 2877, § 9; Ga. L. 1999, p. 592, §§ 5, 6.)

Law reviews.

- For article, "Why Captives, Lord, What Have They Ever Done?: The Georgia Captive Insurance Company Act," see 26 Ga. St. B.J. 119 (1990).

OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

"Admitted assets" is just another expression having the same meaning as "allowed assets," and both "admitted assets" and "allowed assets" mean those investments which come within the definition of assets considered in determining financial condition (see O.C.G.A. § 33-10-1) and not excluded therefrom either impliedly (see O.C.G.A. § 33-10-1) or expressly (see O.C.G.A. § 33-10-2). 1963-65 Op. Att'y Gen. p. 312.

A mutual insurance company may organize and capitalize a stock company as a subsidiary, provided the prior consent of the Commissioner is obtained and the conditions indicated in former Code 1933, § 56-1027 (see O.C.G.A. § 33-11-37) are complied with. 1962 Op. Att'y Gen. p. 294.

Federal National Mortgage Association participation certificates are authorized securities and may be accepted for deposit under former Code 1933, § 56-310 (see O.C.G.A. § 33-3-9). 1969 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 69-346.

Paragraph (3) applies to perpetual care trust funds.

- The restrictions imposed by paragraph (3) of this section upon domestic insurers in the making of their investments apply to the investment of the assets of perpetual care trust funds. 1974 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 74-51 (minimum initial trust deposit equated with minimum capital of domestic stock insurer).

Clause making investments eligible if legal on date of title inapplicable to restriction in paragraph (4).

- The drafters of this title did not intend that the provisions of former Code 1933, § 56-1002(2) (see O.C.G.A. § 33-11-2) should be applicable to the reserve distribution requirements of paragraph (4) of former Code 1933, § 56-1005 (see O.C.G.A. § 33-11-5); inasmuch as the legislature elsewhere authorized the holding of common stocks, subject to somewhat liberalized restrictions, in former Code 1933, § 56-1020 (see O.C.G.A. § 33-11-21), they clearly did not intend that the generalized "savings clause" contained in former Code 1933, § 56-1002(2), should apply to the specific quantitative restrictions on the holding of common stocks contained in the reserve distribution requirements of paragraph (4); stated differently, the legislature, while liberalizing the restrictions upon the quality of common stocks which could be held, on the one hand, imposed more rigid restrictions with respect to the quantitative portfolio distribution of such common stock holdings, on the other hand. 1971 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 71-170.

The proper application of the "savings clause" of former Code 1933, § 56-1002(2) (see O.C.G.A. § 33-11-2), was to that general group of assets, including common stock, which an insurer might lawfully hold, insofar as the qualitative restrictions contained in this title raised or altered the qualitative restrictions of the prior law; any attempt to apply the "savings clause" of former Code 1933, § 56-1002(2), to the reserve distribution requirements of paragraph (4) of former Code 1933, § 56-1005 (see O.C.G.A. § 33-11-5) rendered the latter section largely meaningless and was inconsistent with the general tenor of former Code 1933, § 56-1020 (see O.C.G.A. § 33-11-21). 1971 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 71-170.


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