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

Marginal note:General notice

• 838 (1) For the purposes of subsection 836(1), a general notice to the directors declaring that a director or officer is to be regarded as interested for any of the following reasons in a contract or transaction entered into with a party, is a sufficient declaration of interest in relation to any contract or transaction with that party:

  • (a) the director or officer is a director or officer of a party referred to in paragraph 836(1)(b) or (c) or a person acting in a similar capacity;

  • (b) the director or officer has a material interest in the party; or

  • (c) there has been a material change in the nature of the director’s or officer’s interest in the party.

• Marginal note:Access to disclosures

  (2) The shareholders of the insurance holding company may examine the portions of any minutes of meetings of directors or committees of directors that contain disclosures under subsection 836(1), or the portions of any other documents that contain those disclosures, during the usual business hours of the insurance holding company.

Marginal note:Avoidance standards

• 839 (1) A contract or transaction for which disclosure is required under subsection 836(1) is not invalid and a director or officer is not accountable to the insurance holding company or its shareholders for any profit realized from it by reason only of the director’s or officer’s interest in the contract or transaction or the fact that the director was present or was counted to determine whether a quorum existed at the meeting of directors, or of a committee of directors, that considered it if

  • (a) the director or officer disclosed their interest in accordance with section 836 and subsection 838(1);

  • (b) the directors approved the contract or transaction; and

  • (c) the contract or transaction was reasonable and fair to the insurance holding company at the time that it was approved.

• Marginal note:Confirmation by shareholders

  (2) Even if the conditions set out in subsection (1) are not met, a director or officer acting honestly and in good faith is not accountable to the insurance holding company or its shareholders for any profit realized from a contract or transaction for which disclosure was required and the contract or transaction is not invalid by reason only of the director’s or officer’s interest in it if

  • (a) the contract or transaction is approved or confirmed by special resolution at a meeting of shareholders;

  • (b) disclosure of the interest was made to the shareholders in a manner sufficient to indicate its nature before the contract or transaction was approved or confirmed; and

  • (c) the contract or transaction was reasonable and fair to the insurance holding company at the time that it was approved or confirmed.

Marginal note:Court may set aside or require accounting

840 If a director or officer of an insurance holding company fails to comply with any of sections 836 to 839, a court, on application of the insurance holding company or any of its shareholders, may set aside the contract or transaction on any terms that the court thinks fit and may require the director or officer to account to the insurance holding company for any profit or gain realized on it.

Liability, Exculpation and Indemnification

Marginal note:Director liability

• 841 (1) Directors of an insurance holding company who vote for or consent to a resolution of the directors authorizing the issue of a share contrary to subsection 748(1) or the issue of subordinated indebtedness contrary to section 762 for a consideration other than money are jointly and severally, or solidarily, liable to the insurance holding company to make good any amount by which the consideration received is less than the fair equivalent of the money that the insurance holding company would have received if the share or subordinated indebtedness had been issued for money on the date of the resolution.

• Marginal note:Further liability

  (2) Directors of an insurance holding company who vote for or consent to a resolution of the directors authorizing any of the following are jointly and severally, or solidarily, liable to restore to the insurance holding company any amounts so distributed or paid and not otherwise recovered by the insurance holding company and any amounts in relation to any loss suffered by the insurance holding company:

  • (a) a redemption or purchase of shares contrary to section 754;

  • (b) a reduction of capital contrary to section 757;

  • (c) a payment of a dividend contrary to section 761; or

  • (d) a payment of an indemnity contrary to section 846.

Marginal note:Contribution

• 842 (1) A director who has satisfied a judgment in relation to the director’s liability under section 841 is entitled to contribution from the other directors who voted for or consented to the unlawful act on which the judgment was founded.

• Marginal note:Recovery

  (2) A director who is liable under section 841 is entitled to apply to a court for an order compelling a shareholder or other person to pay or deliver to the director any money or property that was paid or distributed to the shareholder or other person contrary to section 754, 757, 761 or 846.

• Marginal note:Court order

  (3) Where an application is made to a court under subsection (2), the court may, where it is satisfied that it is equitable to do so,

  • (a) order a shareholder or other person to pay or deliver to a director any money or property that was paid or distributed to the shareholder or other person contrary to section 754, 757, 761 or 846;

  • (b) order an insurance holding company to return or issue shares to a person from whom the insurance holding company has purchased, redeemed or otherwise acquired shares; or

  • (c) make any further order it thinks fit.

Marginal note:Limitation

843 An action to enforce a liability imposed by section 841 may not be commenced after two years from the date of the resolution authorizing the action complained of.

Marginal note:Directors liable for wages

• 844 (1) Subject to subsections (2) and (3), the directors of an insurance holding company are jointly and severally, or solidarily, liable to each employee of the insurance holding company for all debts not exceeding six months wages payable to the employee for services performed for the insurance holding company while they are directors.

• Marginal note:Conditions precedent

  (2) A director is not liable under subsection (1) unless

  • (a) the insurance holding company has been sued for the debt within six months after it has become due and execution has been returned unsatisfied in whole or in part;

  • (b) the insurance holding company has commenced liquidation and dissolution proceedings or has been dissolved and a claim for the debt has been proven within six months after the earlier of the date of commencement of the liquidation and dissolution proceedings and the date of dissolution; or

  • (c) the insurance holding company has made an assignment or a bankruptcy order has been made against it under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act and a claim for the debt has been proven within six months after the date of the assignment or bankruptcy order.

• Marginal note:Limitations

  (3) A director is not liable under subsection (1) unless the director is sued for a debt referred to in that subsection while a director or within two years after the director has ceased to be a director.

• Marginal note:Amount due after execution

  (4) Where execution referred to in paragraph (2)(a) has issued, the amount recoverable from a director is the amount remaining unsatisfied after execution.

• Marginal note:Subrogation of director

  (5) Where a director of an insurance holding company pays a debt referred to in subsection (1) that is proven in liquidation and dissolution or bankruptcy proceedings, the director is entitled to any preference that the employee would have been entitled to and, where a judgment has been obtained, the director is entitled to an assignment of the judgment.

• Marginal note:Contribution entitlement

  (6) A director of an insurance holding company who has satisfied a claim under this section is entitled to a contribution from the other directors of the insurance holding company who are liable for the claim.

Marginal note:Defence — due diligence

• 845 (1) A director, officer or employee of an insurance holding company is not liable under section 841 or 844 and has fulfilled their duty under subsection 795(2) if they exercised the care, diligence and skill that a reasonably prudent person would have exercised in comparable circumstances, including reliance in good faith on

  • (a) financial statements of the insurance holding company that were represented to them by an officer of the insurance holding company or in a written report of the auditor of the insurance holding company fairly to reflect the financial condition of the insurance holding company; or

  • (b) a report of a person whose profession lends credibility to a statement made by them.

• Marginal note:Defence — good faith

  (2) A director or officer of an insurance holding company has fulfilled their duty under subsection 795(1) if they relied in good faith on

  • (a) financial statements of the insurance holding company that were represented to them by an officer of the insurance holding company or in a written report of the auditor of the insurance holding company fairly to reflect the financial condition of the insurance holding company; or

  • (b) a report of a person whose profession lends credibility to a statement made by them.

Marginal note:Indemnification

• 846 (1) An insurance holding company may indemnify a director or officer of the insurance holding company, a former director or officer of the insurance holding company or another person who acts or acted, at the insurance holding company’s request, as a director or officer of or in a similar capacity for another entity against all costs, charges and expenses, including an amount paid to settle an action or satisfy a judgment, reasonably incurred by them in respect of any civil, criminal, administrative, investigative or other proceeding in which they are involved because of that association with the insurance holding company or other entity.

• Marginal note:Advances

  (2) An insurance holding company may advance amounts to the director, officer or other person for the costs, charges and expenses of a proceeding referred to in subsection (1). They shall repay the amounts if they do not fulfil the conditions set out in subsection (3).

• Marginal note:No indemnification

  (3) An insurance holding company may not indemnify a person under subsection (1) unless

  • (a) the person acted honestly and in good faith with a view to the best interests of, as the case may be, the insurance holding company, or the other entity for which they acted at the insurance holding company’s request as a director or officer or in a similar capacity; and

  • (b) in the case of a criminal or administrative action or proceeding that is enforced by a monetary penalty, the person had reasonable grounds for believing that their conduct was lawful.

• Marginal note:Indemnification — derivative actions

  (4) An insurance holding company may with the approval of a court indemnify a person referred to in subsection (1) or advance amounts to them under subsection (2) — in respect of an action by or on behalf of the insurance holding company or other entity to procure a judgment in its favour to which the person is made a party because of the association referred to in subsection (1) with the insurance holding company or other entity — against all costs, charges and expenses reasonably incurred by them in connection with that action if they fulfil the conditions set out in subsection (3).

• Marginal note:Right to indemnity

  (5) Despite subsection (1), a person referred to in that subsection is entitled to be indemnified by the insurance holding company in respect of all costs, charges and expenses reasonably incurred by them in connection with the defence of any civil, criminal, administrative, investigative or other proceeding to which the person is subject because of the association referred to in subsection (1) with the insurance holding company or other entity described in that subsection if the person

  • (a) was not judged by the court or other competent authority to have committed any fault or omitted to do anything that they ought to have done; and

  • (b) fulfils the conditions set out in subsection (3).

• Marginal note:Heirs and personal representatives

  (6) An insurance holding company may, to the extent referred to in subsections (1) to (5) in respect of the person, indemnify the heirs or personal representatives of any person whom the insurance holding company may indemnify under those subsections.

Marginal note:Directors’ and officers’ insurance

847 An insurance holding company may purchase and maintain insurance for the benefit of any person referred to in section 846 against any liability incurred by the person

• (a) in the capacity of a director or an officer of the insurance holding company, except where the liability relates to a failure to act honestly and in good faith with a view to the best interests of the insurance holding company; or

• (b) in the capacity of a director or officer of another entity or while acting in a similar capacity for another entity, if they act or acted in that capacity at the insurance holding company’s request, except if the liability relates to a failure to act honestly and in good faith with a view to the best interests of the entity.

Marginal note:Application to court for indemnification

• 848 (1) An insurance holding company or a person referred to in section 846 may apply to a court for an order approving an indemnity under that section and the court may so order and make any further order it thinks fit.

• Marginal note:Notice to Superintendent

  (2) An applicant under subsection (1) shall give the Superintendent written notice of the application and the Superintendent is entitled to appear and to be heard at the hearing of the application in person or by counsel.

• Marginal note:Other notice

  (3) On an application under subsection (1), the court may order notice to be given to any interested person and that person is entitled to appear and to be heard in person or by counsel at the hearing of the application.

SUBDIVISION 4Fundamental Changes

Amendments — Letters Patent

Marginal note:Incorporating instrument

849 On the application of an insurance holding company duly authorized by special resolution, the Minister may approve a proposal to add, change or remove any provision that is permitted by this Part to be set out in the incorporating instrument of the insurance holding company.

Marginal note:Letters patent to amend

• 850 (1) On receipt of an application referred to in section 849, the Minister may issue letters patent to effect the proposal.

• Marginal note:Effect of letters patent

  (2) Letters patent issued pursuant to subsection (1) become effective on the day stated in the letters patent.