Section 500.8115a - Netting agreement or qualified financial contract; rights; transfer; duties of receiver; exception; rights of counterparties; definitions.
THE INSURANCE CODE OF 1956 (EXCERPT)
Act 218 of 1956
500.8115a Netting agreement or qualified financial contract; rights; transfer; duties of receiver; exception; rights of counterparties; definitions.
Sec. 8115a.
(1) Notwithstanding any other provision of this act, including any other provision of this act permitting the modification of contracts, or other law of the state, a person shall not be stayed or prohibited from exercising any of the following:
(a) A contractual right to terminate, liquidate, or close out any netting agreement or qualified financial contract with an insurer because of the commencement of a formal delinquency proceeding under this chapter or the insolvency, financial condition, or default of the insurer at any time, provided that the right is enforceable under applicable law other than this act.
(b) Any right under a pledge, security, collateral, or guarantee agreement or any other similar security arrangement or credit support document relating to a netting agreement or qualified financial contract.
(c) Subject to section 8130(2), any right to set off or net out any termination value, payment amount, or other transfer obligation arising under or in connection with a netting agreement or qualified financial contract where the counterparty or its guarantor is organized under the laws of the United States or a state or foreign jurisdiction approved by the securities valuation office of the national association of insurance commissioners and approved by the commissioner as eligible for netting.
(2) Upon termination of a netting agreement, the net or settlement amount, if any, owed by a nondefaulting party to an insurer against which an application or petition has been filed under this chapter shall be transferred to or on the order of the receiver for the insurer, even if the insurer is the defaulting party, notwithstanding any provision in the netting agreement that may provide that the nondefaulting party is not required to pay any net or settlement amount due to the defaulting party upon termination. Any limited 2-way payment provision in a netting agreement with an insurer that has defaulted shall be considered to be a full 2-way payment provision as against the defaulting insurer. Any such property or amount shall, except to the extent it is subject to 1 or more secondary liens or encumbrances, be a general asset of the insurer.
(3) In making any transfer of a netting agreement or qualified financial contract of an insurer subject to a proceeding under this chapter, the receiver shall do either of the following:
(a) Transfer to 1 party, other than an insurer subject to a proceeding under this chapter, all netting agreements and qualified financial contracts between a counterparty or any affiliate of the counterparty and the insurer that is the subject of the proceeding, including all rights and obligations of each party under each such netting agreement and qualified financial contract and all property, including any guarantees or credit support documents, securing any claims of each party under each such netting agreement and qualified financial contract.
(b) Transfer none of the netting agreements, qualified financial contracts, rights, obligations, or property referred to in subdivision (a) with respect to the counterparty and any affiliate of the counterparty.
(4) If a receiver for an insurer makes a transfer of 1 or more netting agreements or qualified financial contracts, then the receiver shall use its best efforts to notify any person who is party to the netting agreements or qualified financial contracts of the transfer by 12 noon of the receiver's local time on the business day following the transfer. For purposes of this subsection, “business day” means a day other than a Saturday, Sunday, or any day on which either the New York stock exchange or the federal reserve bank of New York is closed.
(5) Notwithstanding any other provision of this act, a receiver may not avoid a transfer of money or other property arising under or in connection with a netting agreement or qualified financial contract or any pledge, security, collateral, or guarantee agreement or any other similar security arrangement or credit support document relating to a netting agreement or qualified financial contract that is made before the commencement of a formal delinquency proceeding under this chapter. However, a transfer may be avoided under section 8126 if the transfer was made with actual intent to hinder, delay, or defraud the insurer, a receiver appointed for the insurer, or existing or future creditors.
(6) In exercising any of its powers under this chapter to disaffirm or repudiate a netting agreement or qualified financial contract, the receiver shall take action with respect to each netting agreement or qualified financial contract and all transactions entered into in connection with the netting agreement or qualified financial contract in its entirety. Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, any claim of a counterparty against the estate arising from the receiver's disaffirmance or repudiation of a netting agreement or qualified financial contract that has not been previously affirmed in the liquidation or immediately preceding rehabilitation case shall be determined and shall be allowed or disallowed as if the claim had arisen before the date of the filing of the petition for liquidation or, if a rehabilitation proceeding is converted to a liquidation proceeding, as if the claim had arisen before the date of the filing of the petition for rehabilitation. The amount of the claim shall be the actual direct compensatory damages determined as of the date of the disaffirmance or repudiation of the netting agreement or qualified financial contract.
(7) This section does not apply to persons who are affiliates of the insurer that is the subject of the proceeding.
(8) All rights of counterparties under this act apply to netting agreements and qualified financial contracts entered into on behalf of the general account or separate accounts if the assets of each separate account are available only to counterparties to netting agreements and qualified financial contracts entered into on behalf of that separate account.
(9) As used in this section:
(a) “Actual direct compensatory damages” includes normal and reasonable costs of cover or other reasonable measures of damages utilized in the derivatives market for the contract and agreement claims, but does not include punitive and exemplary damages, damages for lost profit or lost opportunity, or damages for pain and suffering.
(b) “Commodity contract” means any of the following:
(i) A contract for the purchase or sale of a commodity for future delivery on, or subject to the rules of, a board of trade designated as a contract market by the commodity futures trading commission under the commodity exchange act, 7 USC 1 to 27f, or board of trade outside the United States.
(ii) An agreement that is subject to regulation under section 23 of the commodity exchange act, 7 USC 23, and that is commonly known to the commodities trade as a margin account, margin contract, leverage account, or leverage contract.
(iii) An agreement or transaction that is subject to regulation under section 6c of the commodity exchange act, 7 USC 6c, and that is commonly known to the commodities trade as a commodity option.
(c) “Contractual right” includes any right, whether or not evidenced in writing, arising under statutory or common law, a rule or bylaw of a national securities exchange, national securities clearing organization, or securities clearing agency, a rule or bylaw, or a resolution of the governing body, of a contract market or its clearing organization, or under law merchant.
(d) “Forward contract” means a contract for the purchase, sale, or transfer of a commodity, as defined in section 1a of the commodity exchange act, 7 USC 1a, or any similar good, article, service, right, or interest that is presently or in the future becomes the subject of dealing in the forward contract trade, or product or by-product thereof, with a maturity date more than 2 days after the date the contract is entered into, including, but not limited to, a repurchase transaction, reverse repurchase transaction, consignment, lease, swap, hedge transaction, deposit, loan, option, allocated transaction, unallocated transaction, or a combination of these or option on any of them. Forward contract does not include a commodity contract.
(e) “Netting agreement” means a contract or agreement, including terms and conditions incorporated by reference in the contract or agreement, that documents 1 or more transactions between the parties to the agreement for or involving 1 or more qualified financial contracts and that provides for the netting or liquidation of qualified financial contracts or present or future payment obligations or payment entitlements thereunder, including liquidation or close-out values relating to those obligations or entitlements, among the parties to the netting agreement. Netting agreement includes a master agreement that otherwise meets this definition. A master agreement includes all schedules, confirmations, definitions, and addenda to it and transactions under it, which shall be treated as 1 netting agreement.
(f) “Qualified financial contract” means a commodity contract, forward contract, repurchase agreement, securities contract, swap agreement, and any similar agreement that the commissioner determines by regulation, resolution, or order to be a qualified financial contract for the purposes of this chapter.
(g) “Repurchase agreement”, including a reverse repurchase agreement, means an agreement, including related terms, that provides for the transfer of certificates of deposit, eligible bankers' acceptances, or securities that are direct obligations of, or that are fully guaranteed as to principal and interest by, the United States or an agency of the United States against the transfer of funds by the transferee of the certificates of deposit, eligible bankers' acceptances, or securities with a simultaneous agreement by the transferee to transfer to the transferor certificates of deposit, eligible bankers' acceptances, or securities as described above, at a date certain not later than 1 year after the transfers or on demand, against the transfer of funds. For the purposes of this definition, the items that may be subject to an agreement include mortgage-related securities, a mortgage loan, and an interest in a mortgage loan, and shall not include any participation in a commercial mortgage loan, unless the commissioner determines by regulation, resolution, or order to include the participation within the meaning of the term.
(h) “Securities contract” means a contract for the purchase, sale, or loan of a security, including an option for the repurchase or sale of a security, certificate of deposit, or group or index of securities, including an interest therein or based on the value thereof, or an option entered into on a national securities exchange relating to foreign currencies, or the guarantee of a settlement of cash or securities by or to a securities clearing agency. As used in this definition, “security” includes a mortgage loan, mortgage-related securities, and an interest in any mortgage loan or mortgage-related security.
(i) “Swap agreement” means an agreement, including the terms and conditions incorporated by reference in an agreement, that is a rate swap agreement, basis swap, commodity swap, forward rate agreement, interest rate future, interest rate option, forward foreign exchange agreement, spot foreign exchange agreement, rate cap agreement, rate floor agreement, rate collar agreement, currency swap agreement, cross-currency rate swap agreement, currency future, or currency option or any other similar agreement, and includes any combination of agreements and an option to enter into an agreement.
History: Add. 2004, Act 217, Imd. Eff. July 14, 2004
Popular Name: Act 218