§ 3222 — Funding agreements

§ 3222. Funding agreements. (a) Any insurer authorized to deliver or\nissue for delivery annuity contracts in the state may deliver or issue\nfor delivery one or more funding agreements. The issuance or delivery of\nsuch funding agreements shall not be deemed to be doing a kind of\nbusiness specifically authorized by section one thousand one hundred\nthirteen of this chapter or engaging in any business authorized by\nsection one thousand seven hundred fourteen of this chapter.\nNotwithstanding the definition of "insurance contract" in paragraph one\nof subsection (a) of section one thousand one hundred one of this\nchapter, the issuance or delivery of a funding agreement by an insurer\nin this state shall constitute doing an insurance business herein.\n (b) Such funding agreements may be issued to persons authorized by a\nstate or foreign country to engage in an insurance business or\nsubsidiaries of such persons. Such funding agreements may also be issued\nto entities other than persons authorized to engage in an insurance\nbusiness (and subsidiaries of such persons) and to individuals for the\nfollowing purposes: (i) to fund benefits under any employee benefit plan\nas defined in the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act of\n1974, 29 U.S.C. §§ 1001 et seq, maintained in the United States or in a\nforeign country, (ii) to fund the activities of any organization exempt\nfrom taxation under section five hundred one (c) of the Internal Revenue\nCode or of any similar organization in any foreign country, (iii) to\nfund any program of the government of the United States, the government\nof any state, foreign country or political subdivision thereof, or any\nagency or instrumentality thereof, (iv) to fund any agreement providing\nfor periodic payments in satisfaction of a claim or (v) to fund any\nprogram of an institution which has assets in excess of twenty-five\nmillion dollars.\n (c) No amounts shall be guaranteed or credited under any such funding\nagreement except upon reasonable assumptions as to investment income and\nexpenses and on a basis equitable to all holders of funding agreements\nof a given class. Such funding agreements shall not provide for payments\nto or by the insurer based on mortality or morbidity contingencies.\n (d) Amounts paid to the insurer, and proceeds applied under optional\nmodes of settlement, under such funding agreements may be allocated by\nthe insurer to one or more separate accounts pursuant to section four\nthousand two hundred forty of this chapter.\n (e) (1) The superintendent may promulgate reasonable regulations\nrelating to (i) the standards to be followed in the approval of forms of\nsuch funding agreements, (ii) the reserves to be maintained by insurers\nissuing such funding agreements, (iii) the accounting and reporting of\nfunds credited under such funding agreements, (iv) the disclosure of\ninformation to be given to holders and prospective holders of such\nfunding agreements, and (v) the qualification and compensation of\npersons selling such funding agreements on behalf of insurers.\n (2) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the superintendent\nshall have sole authority to regulate the issuance and sale of such\nfunding agreements, including the persons selling such funding\nagreements on behalf of insurers.\n