38.2-3100.2 - Funding agreements.
§ 38.2-3100.2. Funding agreements.
A. Any insurer that is licensed to write life insurance or annuities in theCommonwealth may deliver, or issue for delivery, funding agreements in theCommonwealth.
B. As used in this section "funding agreement" is inclusive but not limitedto guaranteed investment contracts, guaranteed interest contracts,unallocated group contracts, investment contracts, or other similarinstrument by whatever name, and means an agreement that authorizes theinsurer to accept funds and that provides for an accumulation of funds forthe purpose of making one or more payments in fixed or variable amounts, orin both, that are not based on mortality or morbidity contingencies.
C. Funding agreements may be issued to persons to fund (i) benefits under anyemployee benefit plan as defined in the federal Employee Retirement IncomeSecurity Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. § 1002 (3)) maintained in the United Statesor a foreign country; (ii) the activities of any organization exempt fromtaxation under section 501 (c) of the Internal Revenue Code or any similarorganization in any foreign country; (iii) any program of the government ofthe United States, the government of any state, foreign country, or politicalsubdivision thereof; (iv) any agreement providing for one or more payments insatisfaction of a claim; (v) any program of any individual or entity that hasassets in excess of $25,000,000; or (vi) any program of any individual orentity that is registered with the federal Securities and Exchange Commission.
D. Amounts paid to the insurer and proceeds applied under optional modes ofsettlement under a funding agreement may be allocated by the insurer to itsgeneral account and to one or more separate accounts. The assets of any suchseparate account shall not be chargeable with liabilities arising out of anyother business that the insurer conducts. Where separate accounts are notchargeable with liabilities arising out of any other business of the insurer,a risk charge shall be paid on not less than a quarterly basis from therespective separate account to the general account to provide appropriatecompensation and to fund an appropriate reserve, if any, for the risks to thegeneral account.
E. No licensed insurer shall make an agreement in the Commonwealth providingfor the allocation of funding agreement amounts to a separate account untilsuch insurer has filed with the Commission a statement as to its methods ofoperation of such separate account and the Commission has approved suchstatement. Subject to the approval of the Commission, any such statement mayapply to one or more groups of separate accounts classified by investmentpolicy, number or kinds of separate account participants, methods ofdistribution of such agreements or otherwise. In determining whether or notto approve any such statement, the Commission shall consider, among otherthings, the history, reputation and financial stability of the insurer andthe character, experience, responsibility, competence, and general fitness ofthe officers and directors of the insurer. An amendment of any such statementthat changes the investment policy of a separate account shall be treated asan original filing.
F. A funding agreement delivered or issued for delivery in the Commonwealthshall not qualify as or be considered to be life insurance, an annuity, orany other form of insurance defined and classified in Article 2 (§ 38.2-101et seq.) of Chapter 1 of this title, but shall constitute transacting aninsurance business in the Commonwealth.
G. For any funding agreement assets held in the insurer's general account, orfor any other obligations due under the funding agreement from the insurer'sgeneral account, the funding agreement shall be treated as an insurancecontract, and the holder of the funding agreement shall be entitled to thesame priority of distribution as other policyholders for the purposes ofclause (ii) of subdivision B 1 of § 38.2-1509.
H. Any domestic insurer that has established separate accounts in connectionwith funding agreements and has allocated funds to such separate accountsshall file with the Commission, in addition to the annual statement requiredby § 38.2-1300, any other periodic or special reports the Commissionprescribes.
I. An insurer that has established a separate account pursuant to thissection shall not transfer any assets to such separate account from any ofits other accounts, including its general account, unless the transfer tosuch separate account is authorized by the Commission.
(2004, c. 254; 2008, c. 216.)