§ 6712. Insurance underwriting in national banks
(a)
In general
Except as provided in section
6713 of this title, a national bank and the subsidiaries of a national bank may not provide insurance in a State as principal except that this prohibition shall not apply to authorized products.
(b)
Authorized products
For the purposes of this section, a product is authorized if—
(1)
as of January 1, 1999, the Comptroller of the Currency had determined in writing that national banks may provide such product as principal, or national banks were in fact lawfully providing such product as principal;
(c)
Definition
For purposes of this section, the term “insurance” means—
(1)
any product regulated as insurance as of January 1, 1999, in accordance with the relevant State insurance law, in the State in which the product is provided;
(2)
any product first offered after January 1, 1999, which—
(A)
a State insurance regulator determines shall be regulated as insurance in the State in which the product is provided because the product insures, guarantees, or indemnifies against liability, loss of life, loss of health, or loss through damage to or destruction of property, including, but not limited to, surety bonds, life insurance, health insurance, title insurance, and property and casualty insurance (such as private passenger or commercial automobile, homeowners, mortgage, commercial multiperil, general liability, professional liability, workers’ compensation, fire and allied lines, farm owners multiperil, aircraft, fidelity, surety, medical malpractice, ocean marine, inland marine, and boiler and machinery insurance); and
(B)
is not a product or service of a bank that is—
(iv)
a qualified financial contract (as defined in or determined pursuant to section
1821
(e)(8)(D)(i) of title
12); or
(v)
a financial guaranty, except that this subparagraph (B) shall not apply to a product that includes an insurance component such that if the product is offered or proposed to be offered by the bank as principal—
(II)
in the event that the product is not a letter of credit or other similar extension of credit, a qualified financial contract, or a financial guaranty, it would qualify for treatment for losses incurred with respect to such product under section
832
(b)(5) of title
26, if the bank were subject to tax as an insurance company under section 831 of that title; or
(d)
Rule of construction
For purposes of this section, providing insurance (including reinsurance) outside the United States that insures, guarantees, or indemnifies insurance products provided in a State, or that indemnifies an insurance company with regard to insurance products provided in a State, shall be considered to be providing insurance as principal in that State.