Definitions

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  • For purposes of this chapter, the following defined terms shall apply unless defined elsewhere and not otherwise inconsistent:
    • (a) “Actuary” means a person qualified as an actuary by examination of the Institute of Actuaries in England or the Faculty of Actuaries in Scotland, Casualty Actuarial Society, or the Society of Actuaries in the United States of America or Canada or other certifications of actuaries recognized by the SAM. Such Actuary need not be licensed in the Virgin Islands.

    • (b) “Advisory Board” means an ad hoc board of five members appointed by and with full discretion of the SAM, possessing knowledge of technical and complex issues that arise relating to International Insurers Businesses which the SAM may use to evaluate the functioning of the program and to review applications for licensing.

    • (c) “Affiliated Company” means any company in the same corporate system as a parent, an industrial insured, or a member organization by virtue of common ownership, control, operation, or management.

    • (d) “Affiliated Person” means an individual or an entity that is related to a parent or owner of an entity by virtue of being: a spouse, father, mother, child, brother or sister of such individual person; or the owner, parent or affiliated company, with respect to any such person which is an entity.

    • (e) “Alien Captive Insurance Company” means an insurance company formed to write insurance business for its parents and affiliates and licensed pursuant to the laws of an alien jurisdiction, a non-United States domicile, which imposes statutory or regulatory standards in a form acceptable to the SAM on companies transacting the business of insurance in such jurisdiction.

    • (f) “Alternative Market Insurer Business” means a company that may insure or reinsure the risks of parents, owners, affiliates, and related businesses, provided the insurance or reinsurance that it writes complies with the laws and regulations of the domicile for direct placement of risk, and may directly insure the members of an association which owns the Alternative Market Insurer. For purposes of this chapter, the term shall also include any “International Insurance Company” or “Branch Exempt International Insurer” as herein defined.

    • (g) “Association” means any legal association of individuals, corporations, partnerships, or associations that has been in continuous existence for at least one year, which collectively, or through a trust or corporation formed by or on behalf of the Association:

      • (1) owns, controls, or holds with power to vote 60% or more of the outstanding voting securities of an Association International Insurance Company incorporated as a stock insurer; or

      • (2) has complete voting control over an Association International Insurance Company incorporated as a mutual insurer.

    • (h) “Association International Insurance Company” means any International Insurance Company that insures risks of the member organizations of the Association and their affiliated companies or entities established by the Association.

    • (i) “Auditor” means an individual who sits and successfully passes a financial examination and is inducted into financial charters and societies and has earned the designation as a Certified Public Accountant or similarly recognized definition in various countries and possesses such qualifications in insurance accountancy as the SAM, by written order, approves and is in good standing with respect to such qualifications. Such auditors need not be licensed in the Virgin Islands.

    • (j) “Branch Exempt International Insurer” shall be a branch captive insurance company meeting the criteria set forth in Virgin Islands Code Title 13, section 853a and sections 1409A and 1415 of this Chapter, licensed by the SAM and qualifying to do business in the Virgin Islands as provided in this chapter.

    • (k) “Commissioner” means the Commissioner of Insurance.

    • (l) “Exempt international insurer” means any International Insurance Company or Branch Exempt International Insurer that makes an election under section 1415 of this title.

    • (m) “Group” means a group of corporations, partnerships, other business entities, or individuals, and includes clients of an insurance agency or brokerage, that collectively or through a trust or corporation formed by or on behalf of the group or the agency or brokerage:

      • (A) own, control, or hold with power to vote 60% or more to the outstanding voting securities of a Group International Insurance Company incorporated as a stock insurer; or

      • (B) have complete voting control over a Group International Insurance Company incorporated as a mutual insurer.

    • (n) “Group International Insurance Company” means an International Insurance Company that insures the risks of members of a Group and their affiliated companies.

    • (o) “Industrial Insured” means an insured:

      • (1) that procures the insurance of any risk or risks by use of the services of a full-time employee acting as an insurance manager or buyer; and

      • (2) the aggregate annual premiums of which for insurance on all risks total at least $25,000; and

      • (3) that has at least 25 full-time employees.

    • (p) “Industrial Insured International Insurance Company” means any International Insurance Company that insures risks of the international insureds that comprise the Industrial Insured Group and their affiliated companies.

    • (q) “Industrial Insured Group” means either of the following:

      • (1) the Industrial Insureds that collectively, or through a trust or corporation formed by or on behalf of the industrial insured group:

        • (A) own, control, or hold with power to vote 60% or more of the outstanding voting securities of an Industrial Insured International Insurance Company incorporated as a stock insurer; or

        • (B) have complete voting control over an Industrial Insured International Insurance Company incorporated as a mutual insurer.

    • (r) “Insurance Business” means the business of soliciting, effecting or carrying out contracts protecting persons against loss or liability for loss regarding a certain risk to which the object of the insurance may be exposed or to pay a sum of money or other thing of value upon the happening of a certain event, in return for a premium, and includes reinsurance business.

    • (s) “Internal Revenue Code” means the United States Internal Revenue Code, Title 26, United States Code as amended.

    • (t) “International Insurance Company” means any single-parent International Insurance Company, Association International Insurance Company, or Industrial Insured International Insurance Company or any Branch Exempt International Insurer thereof licensed under the provisions of this chapter to underwrite risks situated exclusively outside the Virgin Islands.

    • (u) “International Insurer Support Business” shall mean any person or company licensed under this Chapter to conduct any one or more functions for International Insurance Companies as an insurance manager, insurance agent, or insurance broker only with respect to risks situated exclusively outside the Virgin Islands.

    • (v) “Member Organization” means any individual, corporation, partnership, or association that belongs to an Association.

    • (w) “Mutual Insurer” means an International Insurance Company that does not issue shares of capital stock and the surplus of which equivalent to capital is owned by the policy holders.

    • (x) “Parent” means a corporation, partnership, or individual that directly or indirectly, through trusts, holding corporations, or otherwise, owns, controls, or holds with power to vote more than fifty percent (50%) of the outstanding voting securities of a single-parent International Insurance Company.

    • (y) “SAM” means the Superintendent of Alternative Markets of the Office of the Commissioner of Insurance, Division of Alternative Markets and International Reinsurance, or the SAM’s designee, as established in VI Code Title 22 Chapter 4.

    • (z) “Single-parent International Insurance Company” means any International Insurance Company that insures the risk of its parent and affiliated companies.

    • (aa) “Stock Insurer” means any International Insurance Company the capital of which is divided into shares and held by stockholders.

    • (bb) “Tax Benefit Certificate”, certificate issued to a licensed International Insurance Company by the SAM entitling the business to the tax benefits provided for in this Chapter.

    • (cc) “United States risks” constitute such risks situated within any State of the United States as such term is defined in section 953 of the Internal Revenue Code (as it applies to the Virgin Islands), or any regulation issued thereunder.


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