Circular Letter No. 4 (2000)

January 31, 2000

The New York State Insurance Department (Department) is committed to the concept of electronic filing of insurer financial statements. The Department supports the NAIC's Financial Database Re-engineering (FDR) project for both the electronic filing and collection of insurer financial statement information. The primary objectives of the FDR project are to: meet or exceed financial reporting and analysis business requirements not currently being met; improve the flexibility, efficiency and cost effectiveness of current financial reporting systems; and reduce the cost of regulatory compliance in the area of financial reporting. For additional information on FDR please consult the NAIC Web site at http://www.naic.org/fast/new_fdr_filing_requirements.htm.

This Circular Letter confirms the Department's commitment to electronic filing by adopting several important changes in regard to electronic filing of Annual Statements and Quarterly Statements with the Department.

Effective with the 1999 Annual Statement filing due March 1, 2000, and annually thereafter, all insurers that file their annual statements pursuant to Section 307 or 308 of the New York Insurance Law on the Fraternal, Hospital, Medical and Dental Services or Indemnity, Life, Accident and Health, Property and Casualty, and Title blanks, are strongly encouraged to file electronically with the NAIC via the Internet. By filing over the Internet with the NAIC an insurer will have fulfilled its electronic filing requirement with New York and therefore should not file a diskette with the Department. Filing a diskette with the NAIC does not meet an insurer's Electronic Filing Requirements with this Department and will necessitate the filing of a diskette with New York.

Effective with the 1999 Annual Statement filing due April 1, 2000, and annually thereafter, Public Health Law Article 44 HMOs, who file their NAIC Annual Statement pursuant to the New York Public Health Law and Regulations and Section 308 of the New York Insurance Law, are strongly encouraged to file electronically with the NAIC over the Internet. By filing over the Internet with the NAIC a Health Maintenance Organization will have fulfilled its electronic filing requirement with New York and should not file a diskette with the Department. Filing a diskette with the NAIC does not meet an insurer's Electronic Filing Requirement with this Department and will necessitate the filing of a diskette with New York.

Effective with the 2000 1st Quarter Statement filing due May 15, 2000, and for each quarterly statement filing thereafter, all insurers that file their quarterly statements pursuant to Section 307 or 308 of the New York Insurance Law, on the Fraternal, Hospital, Medical and Dental Services, or Indemnity, Health Maintenance Organizations, Life, Accident and Health, Property and Casualty, and Title blanks are strongly encouraged to file electronically with the NAIC via the Internet. By filing over the Internet with the NAIC an insurer will have fulfilled its electronic filing requirement with New York and should not file a diskette with the Department. Filing a diskette with the NAIC does not meet an insurer's Electronic Filing Requirement with this Department and will necessitate the filing of a diskette with New York.

Instructions on filing over the Internet with the NAIC are available on their Web site at http://www.naic.org. Please click on the link for Internet Filings.

This Circular Letter does not apply to alien Accredited Reinsurers or certain Assessment Cooperatives exempted by the Property Bureau. This Circular Letter does not apply to certain Health Maintenance Organizations that are lines of business of Article 43 Corporations.

All insurers who cannot meet the electronic filing requirements specified in this Circular Letter must timely write to the appropriate Regulatory Bureau indicating why they will not be able to meet those requirements. All captioned entities reporting on the Life or Fraternal statement blank should write to Stephen Pallas of the Life Bureau. All captioned entities reporting on the Property and Casualty or Title statement blank should write to Alfred Langner of the Property Bureau. All captioned entities reporting on the Accident and Health, Hospital, Medical and Dental Services or Indemnity or Health Maintenance Organization statement blank should write to Michael Scharff of the Health Bureau. Each letter should be addressed to the address on the letterhead of this Circular Letter.

Please be advised that this Circular Letter does not address hard copy filings. All Annual Statements and Quarterly Statements are still required to be filed in hard copy with the Department, pursuant to Section 307 and 308 of the New York Insurance Law.

This Circular Letter only addresses the electronic filing of NAIC forms. It does not address New York form Annual Statements, New York Supplements, or New York Quarterlies. A separate Circular Letter dealing with New York form Statements will be forthcoming.

This Circular Letter only addresses requirements with the New York Insurance Department. Compliance with this Circular Letter does not address the requirements of the Department of Health as it pertains to filing of national form financial statement information for Health Maintenance Organizations.

Any questions concerning this Circular Letter may be directed to Robert Kerrigan, Associate Insurance Examiner at (212) 480-2333 or Susan Agcaoili, Senior Insurance Examiner at (518) 473–3775 or e-mail to [email protected], Subject: NAIC Internet Filing.

Very truly yours,

____________________
Neil D. Levin
Superintendent of Insurance