§ 23-63-1309 — Confidentiality - Prohibition on announcements - Prohibition on use in ratemaking

Arkansas § 23-63-1309

• Jurisdiction: Arkansas
• Title: 23

Text

(a) The RBC reports, to the extent the information in the RBC reports is not needed to be stated in a publicly available annual statement schedule, and RBC plans, including the results or report of an examination or analysis of an insurer performed under a corrective order issued by the Insurance Commissioner under examination or analysis, with respect to a domestic insurer or foreign insurer that are filed with the commissioner, constitute information that may be damaging to the insurer if made available to its competitors and is kept confidential by the commissioner. This information shall not be made public or be subject to subpoena, or both, other than by the commissioner and then only to enforce actions taken by the commissioner under this subchapter or other insurance laws of this state. (b) (1) It is the judgment of the General Assembly that the comparison of an insurer's total adjusted capital to its RBC levels is a regulatory tool that may show the need for possible corrective action with respect to the insurer and is not intended as a means to rank insurers generally. Except as otherwise required under this subchapter, the making, publishing, disseminating, circulating, or placing before the public or causing directly or indirectly to be made, published, distributed, circulated, or placed before the public in a newspaper, magazine, or other publication, or in the form of a notice, circular, pamphlet, letter, or poster, or over a radio or television station, or in any other way, an advertisement, announcement, or statement containing an assertion, representation, or statement with regard to the RBC levels of an insurer or of any component derived in the calculation by an insurer, agent, broker, or other person engaged in any way in the insurance business would be misleading and is prohibited. (2) If a materially false statement with respect to the comparison regarding an insurer's total adjusted capital to its RBC levels or any of them or an inappropriate comparison of any other amount to the insurer's RBC levels is published in a written publication and the insurer may demonstrate to the commissioner with substantial proof the falsity of the statement or the inappropriateness, as the case may be, then the insurer may publish an announcement in a written publication if the sole purpose of the announcement is to rebut the materially false statement. (c) It is the further judgment of the General Assembly that the RBC instructions, RBC reports, adjusted RBC reports, RBC plans, and revised RBC plans: (1) Are intended solely for use by the commissioner in monitoring the solvency of insurers and the need for possible corrective action with respect to insurers; and (2) Shall not be used by the commissioner: (A) For ratemaking nor considered or introduced as evidence in a rate proceeding; or (B) To compute or derive elements of an appropriate premium level or rate of return for a line of insurance that an insurer or affiliate may write.

Legislative History

Acts 1995, No. 622, § 1; 2011, No. 760, § 4.