Every administrator shall file and maintain with the department a surety bond in favor of the state executed by a surety company authorized to transact business in this State. In lieu of bond, the administrator may file with the department letters of credit, certificates of deposit of building and loan associations, or federal savings and loan associations located within the state in which deposits are guaranteed by the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation, not to exceed the amount of insurance, or of banks located within the state in which deposits are guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, not to exceed the amount covered by insurance or any other financial instrument that the director or his designee deems appropriate. The director or his designee may also in his sole discretion accept in lieu of a bond or certificates of deposit or letter of credit a corporate guaranty by an insurer licensed to transact business in this State. The corporate guaranty must meet any requirements the director or his designee requires. The director or his designee may withdraw his acceptance of a corporate guaranty in lieu of bonds or certificates of deposit at any time. The amount of the bond, certificates of deposit, corporate guaranty letter of credit, or any other instrument the director or his designee deems appropriate, filed with the department must be in the amount of seventy-five thousand dollars for initial applicants. Upon renewal, the applicant shall submit a surety bond in an amount that represents ten percent of the total premiums handled or managed in South Carolina for the previous calendar year. The amount of the surety bond for renewal applications must not be less than seventy-five thousand dollars and may not exceed five hundred thousand dollars. All bonds must include a provision requiring a thirty-day advance notification of cancellation to the department. The bond must be on a form approved by the director or his designee. Any of the above-described financial instruments must be conditioned to pay any person who sustains a loss as a result of: (a) the administrator's violation of or failure to comply with any requirement of this chapter; (b) the administrator's failure to transmit properly any payment received by it for transmission to an insurer or other person; (c) the administrator's misapplication or misappropriation of funds received by it; or (d) any act of fraud or dishonesty committed by the administrator in the administration of an insurance benefit plan. Any aggrieved person may institute an action in the county of his residence against the administrator or his surety, or both, to recover on the bond or to recover from the certificates of deposit or corporate guaranty or letters of credit. Nothing in this section may be construed to prohibit agreements between administrators and insurers providing for additional bonds. The director or his designee may waive the bonding requirements of this section in whole or in part to the extent that funds handled by the administrator are handled on behalf of a licensed insurance company, if the administrator has furnished a bond or other security to the insurance company which meets the purposes of this section. Under no circumstances may the director or his designee waive the bonding requirements of this section with respect to funds handled by the administrator on behalf of self-insured persons, groups, or entities.
HISTORY: Former 1976 Code Section 38-51-30 [1962 Code Section 37-231.1; 1964 (53) 2290] recodified as Section 38-43-30 by 1987 Act No. 155, Section 1; Former 1976 Code Section 38-67-110 [1985 Act No. 133, Section 11] recodified as Section 38-51-30 by 1987 Act No. 155, Section 1; 1988 Act No. 434; 1993 Act No. 181, Section 684; 2018 Act No. 219 (H.4657), Section 7, eff May 18, 2018.
Effect of Amendment
2018 Act No. 219, Section 7, in the sixth sentence, inserted "for initial applicants" at the end, and inserted the seventh, eighth, and ninth sentences, relating to the submission of a surety bond for the renewal of an administrator's license.