(a) Every insurer organized,
registered, accredited or licensed to do an insurance business in this
state shall file or shall cause its holding company to file with the
superintendent, within one hundred and twenty days of the effective date
of this article, a report setting forth such insurer's plan for
complying with the provisions of this article. Any insurer which has
determined that it does not have any of the information requested in
subsection (b) of this section shall file or cause its holding company
to file a report stating that they have no such information. In
addition, an insurer may request to be relieved from filing any further
reports upon providing evidence satisfactory to the superintendent that
such insurer has fulfilled its obligations under this article.
(b) Every insurer organized, licensed, registered or accredited to do
an insurance business in this state shall report or shall cause its
holding company to report to the superintendent the following
information:
(1) whether it is a member of a holding company system including any
insurer, any other member, subsidiary or division in each case whether a
licensee or not, that could possibly be expected to have issued an
insurance policy to a Holocaust victim between January first, nineteen
hundred twenty and December thirty-first, nineteen hundred forty-five
and a list of each such entity;
(2) the approximate number and the total value of all such insurance
policies issued by such insurer or by any other member, subsidiary or
division within the reporting insurer's holding company system, which,
as of the date of such report, remain unpaid or were paid to, or
expropriated by a government located in areas under Nazi influence, that
was not the named beneficiary of such insurance policy;
(3) attempts made by the insurer to locate the beneficiaries of any
such insurance policies for which no claim of benefits has been made;
(4) if requested by the superintendent and to the extent consistent
with applicable laws and confidentiality obligations, with respect to
each such insurance policy, the names of the owner, the name of the
beneficiary and the face amount or pay-out value;
(5) the number of claims filed by persons who allege or have alleged
that they are Holocaust victims and whether each such claim has been
paid or payment has been denied;
(6) if requested by the superintendent, an explanation of any denial
or pending payment of a claim to any person who alleges or has alleged
that he or she is a Holocaust victim;
(7) a summary of the length of time for the processing and disposition
of such a claim by the insurer; and
(8) in the event that the insurer is unable to provide any of the
information required by this section, an explanation of the reasons why
and whether such information may, in the future, be ascertainable. The
reports required by this subsection shall be made within thirty days
after the end of the calendar year in which this article shall have
become effective and annually thereafter for each of the succeeding ten
years except as provided in subsection (a) of this section.
(c) Reports submitted to the superintendent pursuant to this section
shall be certified and affirmed under oath as being true and not
misleading and as containing the most accurate information available at
the time of such report's submission.
(d) The superintendent may waive penalties and fines imposed by this
article for those insurers that, through no fault of their own, were
unaware that they, or members of a holding company system that includes
such insurer, were obligated to file reports pursuant to this article
and to comply with the provisions of this article.
(e) The superintendent is authorized to use any power available to the
state to compel holding company systems that include issuers of
insurance policies to Holocaust victims to submit reports pursuant to
this article and to comply with the provisions of this article.
(f) Any insurer which knowingly or recklessly files a false or
misleading certification required by this section shall be fined not
less than one hundred thousand dollars or such greater amount as the
superintendent deems appropriate based upon the degree of
misrepresentation, the willfulness of the misconduct and the amount of
funds misappropriated. Such insurer also may be barred from further
sales of insurance in New York for a period of up to ten years.