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Insurance Companies Act (S.C. 1991, c. 47)

Act current to 2024-10-02 and last amended on 2024-07-11. Previous Versions

PART IXInvestments (continued)

Consumer and Commercial Lending by Property and Casualty Companies and Marine Companies

Marginal note:Lending limit — property and casualty companies and marine companies

 A property and casualty company, or a marine company, shall not, and shall not permit its prescribed subsidiaries to, make or acquire a commercial loan or a loan to a natural person, or acquire control of a permitted entity that holds commercial loans or loans to natural persons, if the aggregate value of all such loans held by the company and its prescribed subsidiaries exceeds, or the making or acquisition of the loan or the acquisition of control of the permitted entity would cause the aggregate value of all such loans held by the company and its prescribed subsidiaries to exceed, the prescribed percentage of the total assets of the company.

  • 1991, c. 47, s. 505
  • 2001, c. 9, s. 426
  • 2007, c. 6, s. 238

Real Property

Marginal note:Limit on total property interest

 A company shall not, and shall not permit its prescribed subsidiaries to, purchase or otherwise acquire an interest in real property or make an improvement to any real property in which the company or any of its prescribed subsidiaries has an interest if the aggregate value of all interests of the company in real property exceeds, or the acquisition of the interest or the making of the improvement would cause that aggregate value to exceed, an amount determined in accordance with the regulations.

  • 1991, c. 47, s. 506
  • 1993, c. 34, s. 82
  • 2001, c. 9, s. 426

Equities

Marginal note:Limits on equity acquisitions

 A company shall not, and shall not permit its prescribed subsidiaries to,

  • (a) purchase or otherwise acquire any participating shares of any body corporate or any ownership interests in any unincorporated entity, other than those of a permitted entity in which the company has, or by virtue of the acquisition would have, a substantial investment, or

  • (b) acquire control of an entity that holds shares or ownership interests referred to in paragraph (a),

if the aggregate value of

  • (c) all participating shares, excluding participating shares of permitted entities in which the company has a substantial investment, and

  • (d) all ownership interests in unincorporated entities, other than ownership interests in permitted entities in which the company has a substantial investment,

beneficially owned by the company and its prescribed subsidiaries exceeds, or the purchase or acquisition would cause that aggregate value to exceed, an amount determined in accordance with the regulations.

  • 1991, c. 47, s. 507
  • 2001, c. 9, s. 426

Aggregate Limit

Marginal note:Aggregate limit

 A company shall not, and shall not permit its prescribed subsidiaries to,

  • (a) purchase or otherwise acquire

    • (i) participating shares of a body corporate, other than those of a permitted entity in which the company has, or by virtue of the acquisition would have, a substantial investment,

    • (ii) ownership interests in an unincorporated entity, other than ownership interests in a permitted entity in which the company has, or by virtue of the acquisition would have, a substantial investment, or

    • (iii) interests in real property, or

  • (b) make an improvement to real property in which the company or any of its prescribed subsidiaries has an interest

if the aggregate value of

  • (c) all participating shares and ownership interests referred to in subparagraphs (a)(i) and (ii) that are beneficially owned by the company and its prescribed subsidiaries, and

  • (d) all interests of the company in real property referred to in subparagraph (a)(iii)

exceeds, or the acquisition or the making of the improvement would cause that aggregate value to exceed, an amount determined in accordance with the regulations.

  • 1991, c. 47, s. 508
  • 1997, c. 15, s. 271
  • 2001, c. 9, s. 426

Miscellaneous

Marginal note:Regulations

 For the purposes of this Part, the Governor in Council may make regulations

  • (a) defining the interests of a company in real property;

  • (b) determining the method of valuing those interests;

  • (c) exempting classes of companies from the application of sections 502 to 508; or

  • (d) respecting the determination of an amount for the purpose of each of sections 506, 507 and 508.

  • 1991, c. 47, s. 509
  • 1993, c. 34, s. 83
  • 1997, c. 15, s. 272
  • 2001, c. 9, s. 426

Marginal note:Divestment order

  •  (1) The Superintendent may, by order, direct a company to dispose of, within any period that the Superintendent considers reasonable, any loan, investment or interest made or acquired in contravention of this Part.

  • Marginal note:Divestment order

    (2) If, in the opinion of the Superintendent,

    • (a) an investment by a company or any entity it controls in shares of a body corporate or in ownership interests in an unincorporated entity enables the company to control the body corporate or the unincorporated entity, or

    • (b) the company or any entity it controls has entered into an arrangement whereby it or its nominee may veto any proposal put before

      • (i) the board of directors of a body corporate, or

      • (ii) a similar group or committee of an unincorporated entity,

      or whereby no proposal may be approved except with the consent of the company, the entity it controls or the nominee,

    the Superintendent may, by order, require the company, within any period that the Superintendent considers reasonable, to do all things necessary to ensure that the company no longer controls the body corporate or unincorporated entity or has the ability to veto or otherwise defeat any proposal referred to in paragraph (b).

  • Marginal note:Divestment order

    (3) If

    • (a) a company

      • (i) fails to provide or obtain within a reasonable time the undertakings referred to in subsection 497(1), (2) or (4), or

      • (ii) is in default of an undertaking referred to in subsection 497(1) or (2) and the default is not remedied within ninety days after the day of receipt by the company of a notice from the Superintendent of the default, or

    • (b) a permitted entity referred to in subsection 497(4) is in default of an undertaking referred to in subsection 497(4) and the default is not remedied within ninety days after the day of receipt by the company of a notice from the Superintendent of the default,

    the Superintendent may, by order, require the company, within any period that the Superintendent considers reasonable, to do all things necessary to ensure that the company no longer has a substantial investment in the entity to which the undertaking relates.

  • Marginal note:Exception

    (4) Subsection (2) does not apply in respect of an entity in which a company has a substantial investment permitted by this Part.

  • 1991, c. 47, s. 510
  • 2001, c. 9, s. 426

Marginal note:Deemed temporary investment

 If a company controls or has a substantial investment in an entity as permitted by this Part and the company becomes aware of a change in the business or affairs of the entity that, if the change had taken place before the acquisition of control or of the substantial investment, would have caused the entity not to be a permitted entity or would have been such that approval for the acquisition would have been required under subsection 495(7) or (8), the company is deemed to have acquired, on the day the company becomes aware of the change, a temporary investment in respect of which section 498 applies.

  • 1991, c. 47, s. 511
  • 1997, c. 15, s. 273
  • 2001, c. 9, s. 426

Marginal note:Asset transactions

  •  (1) A company shall not, and shall not permit its subsidiaries to, without the approval of the Superintendent, acquire assets from a person or transfer assets to a person if

    A + B > C

    where

    A
    is the value of the assets;
    B
    is the total value of all assets that the company and its subsidiaries acquired from or transferred to that person in the twelve months ending immediately before the acquisition or transfer; and
    C
    is ten per cent of the total value of the assets of the company, as shown in the last annual statement of the company prepared before the acquisition or transfer.
  • Marginal note:Approval of series of transactions

    (1.1) The Superintendent may, for the purposes of subsection (1), approve a transaction or series of transactions relating to the acquisition or transfer of assets that may be entered into with a person, or with persons of any class of persons, regardless of whether those persons are known at the time of the granting of the approval or not.

  • Marginal note:Exception

    (2) Subsection (1) does not apply in respect of

    • (a) an asset that is a debt obligation referred to in subparagraphs (b)(i) to (v) of the definition commercial loan in subsection 490(1);

    • (b) assets that are acquired or transferred under a transaction or series of transactions by a company with another financial institution as a result of the company’s participation in one or more syndicated loans with that financial institution;

    • (c) assets that are acquired or transferred under a transaction that is approved by the Minister or the Superintendent under subsection 254(2) or (2.01);

    • (d) shares of, or ownership interests in, an entity for which the approval of the Minister under Part VII or subsection 495(7) is required or the approval of the Superintendent under subsection 495(8) is required;

    • (e) assets that are acquired or transferred under a transaction approved by the Minister under subsection 715(1) of this Act or subsection 678(1) of the Bank Act;

    • (f) assets, other than real property, acquired or disposed of under an arrangement that has been approved by the Superintendent under subsection 527(3); or

    • (g) assets acquired or disposed of with the approval of the Superintendent under subsection 527(4).

  • (3) [Repealed, 2007, c. 6, s. 239]

  • Marginal note:Value of assets

    (4) For the purposes of “A” in subsection (1), the value of the assets is

    • (a) in the case of assets that are acquired, the purchase price of the assets or, if the assets are shares of, or ownership interests in, an entity the assets of which will be included in the annual statement of the company after the acquisition, the fair market value of the assets; and

    • (b) in the case of assets that are transferred, the value of the assets as reported in the last annual statement of the company prepared before the transfer or, if the value of the assets is not reported in that annual statement, the value of the assets as it would be reported in the annual statement of the company if the annual statement had been prepared, in accordance with the accounting principles referred to in subsection 331(4), immediately before the transfer.

  • Marginal note:Total value of all assets

    (5) For the purposes of subsection (1), the total value of all assets that the company or any of its subsidiaries has acquired during the period of twelve months referred to in subsection (1) is the purchase price of the assets or, if the assets are shares of, or ownership interests in, an entity the assets of which immediately after the acquisition were included in the annual statement of the company, the fair market value of the assets of the entity at the date of the acquisition.

  • Marginal note:Total value of all assets

    (6) For the purposes of subsection (1), the total value of all assets that the company or any of its subsidiaries has transferred during the 12-month period referred to in subsection (1) is the total of the value of each of those assets as reported in the last annual statement of the company prepared before the transfer of the asset or, if the value of any of those assets is not reported in that annual statement, as it would be reported in the annual statement of the company if the annual statement had been prepared, in accordance with the accounting principles referred to in subsection 331(4), immediately before the transfer of the asset.

  • 1991, c. 47, s. 512
  • 1997, c. 15, s. 274
  • 2001, c. 9, s. 426
  • 2007, c. 6, s. 239

Marginal note:Transitional

 Nothing in this Part requires

  • (a) the termination of a loan made before February 7, 2001;

  • (b) the termination of a loan made after that date as a result of a commitment made before that date;

  • (c) the disposal of an investment made before that date; or

  • (d) the disposal of an investment made after that date as a result of a commitment made before that date.

But if the loan or investment would be precluded or limited by this Part, the amount of the loan or investment may not, except as provided in subsections 498(2), 499(3) and 500(3), be increased after that date.

  • 1991, c. 47, s. 513
  • 2001, c. 9, s. 426

Marginal note:Deeming

 A loan or investment referred to in section 513 is deemed not to be prohibited by the provisions of this Part.

PART XAdequacy of Capital and Liquidity and Assets

Marginal note:Adequacy of capital and liquidity — companies and societies

  •  (1) A company and society shall, in relation to its operations, maintain adequate capital and adequate and appropriate forms of liquidity and shall comply with any regulations in relation to adequate capital and adequate and appropriate forms of liquidity.

  • Marginal note:Regulations and guidelines

    (2) The Governor in Council may make regulations and the Superintendent may make guidelines respecting the maintenance by companies and societies of adequate capital and adequate and appropriate forms of liquidity.

  • Marginal note:Directives

    (3) Notwithstanding that a company or society is complying with regulations or guidelines made under subsection (2), the Superintendent may, by order, direct the company or society to increase its capital or to provide additional liquidity in any forms and amounts that the Superintendent may require.

  • Marginal note:Compliance

    (4) A company and society shall comply with an order made under subsection (3) within the time that the Superintendent specifies in the order.

  • 1991, c. 47, s. 515
  • 1996, c. 6, s. 81
  • 2001, c. 9, s. 427

 [Repealed, 2007, c. 6, s. 240]

Marginal note:Notice of value

 Where an appraisal of any asset held by a company or any of its subsidiaries has been made by the Superintendent and the value determined by the Superintendent to be the appropriate value of the asset varies materially from the value placed by the company or subsidiary on the asset, the Superintendent shall send to the company, the auditor of the company, the actuary of the company and the audit committee of the company a written notice of the appropriate value of the asset as determined by the Superintendent.

PART XISelf-dealing

Interpretation and Application

Definition of senior officer

 For the purposes of this Part, a senior officer of a body corporate is a person who is

  • (a) a director of the body corporate who is a full-time employee of the body corporate;

  • (b) the chief executive officer, chief operating officer, president, secretary, treasurer, controller, chief financial officer, chief accountant, chief auditor or chief actuary of the body corporate;

  • (c) a natural person who performs functions for the body corporate similar to those performed by a person referred to in paragraph (b);

  • (d) the head of the strategic planning unit of the body corporate;

  • (e) the head of the unit of the body corporate that provides legal services or human resources services to the body corporate; or

  • (f) any other officer reporting directly to the body corporate’s board of directors, chief executive officer or chief operating officer.

  • 1997, c. 15, s. 276
 

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