12100
. As used in this article:
(a) (1) "Financial guaranty insurance" means a surety bond, an
insurance policy or, when issued by an insurer, an indemnity contract
and any guarantee similar to the foregoing types, under which loss
is payable upon proof of occurrence of financial loss to an insured
claimant, obligee, or indemnitee as a result of any of the following
events:
(A) Failure of any obligor on or issuer of any debt instrument or
other monetary obligation (including equity securities guaranteed
under a surety bond, insurance policy, or indemnity contract) to pay,
when due to be paid by the obligor or scheduled at the time insured
to be received by the holder of the obligation, principal, interest,
premium, dividend, purchase price of or on the instrument or
obligation, or other monetary payment when the failure is the result
of financial default or insolvency, or, provided that the payment
source is investment grade, any other failure of that payment source
to make payment, regardless of whether the obligation is incurred
directly or as guarantor by or on behalf of another obligor that has
also defaulted.
(B) Changes in the levels of interest rates, whether short or long
term, or the differential in interest rates between various markets
or products.
(C) Changes in the rate of exchange of currency.
(D) Changes in the value of financial or commodity indices, or
price levels in general.
(E) Other events that the commissioner determines by order,
regulation, or written consent are substantially similar to any of
the foregoing.
(2) Notwithstanding paragraph (1), "financial guaranty insurance"
shall not include any of the following:
(A) Insurance of any loss resulting from any event described in
paragraph (1), if the loss is payable only upon the occurrence of any
of the following, as specified in a surety bond, insurance policy,
or indemnity contract:
(i) A fortuitous physical event.
(ii) A failure of or deficiency in the operation of equipment.
(iii) An inability to extract or recover a natural resource.
(B) Title insurance authorized by Section 104 and as permitted to
be written by title insurers pursuant to Chapter 1 (commencing with
Section 12340) of Part 6.
(C) Surety insurance as authorized by Section 105.
(D) Credit unemployment insurance, meaning insurance on a debtor
in connection with a specific loan or other credit transaction, to
provide payments to a creditor in the event of unemployment of the
debtor for the installments or other periodic payments becoming due
while a debtor is unemployed.
(E) Credit insurance authorized by Section 113.
(F) Guaranteed investment contracts and funding agreements issued
by life insurance companies that provide that the life insurer itself
will make specified payments in exchange for specific premiums or
contributions.
(G) Mortgage guaranty insurance authorized by Section 119 and as
permitted to be written by a mortgage guaranty insurer pursuant to
Chapter 2A (commencing with Section 12640.01) of Part 6.
(H) Indemnity contracts or similar guarantees, to the extent that
they are not otherwise limited or proscribed by this article, in
which a life insurer does any of the following:
(i) Guarantees its obligations or indebtedness or the obligations
or indebtedness of a subsidiary (as defined in Section 1215) other
than a financial guaranty insurance corporation; provided that:
(I) To the extent that any obligations or indebtedness are backed
by specific assets, those assets shall at all times be owned by the
life insurer or the subsidiary.
(II) In the case of the guarantee of the obligations or
indebtedness of the subsidiary that are not backed by specific assets
of the life insurer, the guarantee terminates once the subsidiary
ceases to be a subsidiary.
(ii) Guarantees obligations or indebtedness (including the
obligation to substitute assets where appropriate) with respect to
specific assets acquired by a life insurer in the course of normal
investment activities and not for the purpose of resale with credit
enhancement, or guarantees obligations or indebtedness acquired by
its subsidiary, provided that the assets acquired pursuant to this
clause have been either of the following:
(I) Acquired by a special purpose entity, whose sole purpose is to
acquire specific assets of the life insurer or the subsidiary and
issue securities or participation certificates backed by the assets.
(II) Sold to an independent third party.
(iii) Guarantees obligations or indebtedness of an employee or
agent of the life insurer.
(I) Any cramdown bond or mortgage repurchase bond, as those
phrases are used by nationally recognized rating agencies in respect
of mortgage-backed securities.
(J) Residual value insurance.
(K) Any other form of insurance covering risks that the
commissioner determines by order, regulation, or written consent to
be substantially similar to any of the foregoing.
(b) "Affiliate" means a person that, directly or indirectly, owns
at least 10 but less than 50 percent of the financial guaranty
insurance corporation or that is at least 10 percent but less than 50
percent, directly or indirectly, owned by a financial guaranty
insurance corporation.
(c) "Asset-backed securities" means either of the following:
(1) Securities or other financial obligations of an issuer
provided that both of the following apply:
(A) The issuer is a special purpose corporation, trust, or other
entity, or, provided that the securities or other financial
obligations constitute an insurable risk, is a bank, trust company,
or other financial institution, deposits in which are insured by the
Bank Insurance Fund or the Savings Association Insurance Fund of the
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any successors thereto.
(B) The securities or other financial obligations are related to a
pool of assets so that all of the following apply:
(i) The pool of assets has been conveyed, pledged, or otherwise
transferred to or is otherwise owned or acquired by the issuer.
(ii) The pool of assets backs the securities or other financial
obligations issued.
(iii) No asset in the pool, other than an asset directly payable
by, guaranteed by, or backed by the full faith and credit of the
United States government or that otherwise qualifies as collateral
under paragraph (1) or (2) of subdivision (e), has a value exceeding
20 percent of the aggregate value of the pool.
(2) A pool of credit default swaps or credit default swaps
referencing a pool of obligations, provided that each of the
following is true:
(A) The swap counterparty whose obligations are insured under the
credit default swap is a special purpose corporation, special purpose
trust, or other special purpose legal entity.
(B) No reference obligation in the pool, other than an obligation
directly payable by, guaranteed by, or backed by the full faith and
credit of the United States government, or that otherwise qualifies
as collateral under paragraph (2) of subdivision (e), has a notional
amount exceeding 10 percent of the pool's aggregate notional amount.
(C) The insurer has the benefit of a deductible or other first
loss credit protection against claims under its insurance policy.
(d) "Average annual debt service" means the amount of insured
unpaid principal and interest on an obligation multiplied by the
number of the insured obligations (assuming that each obligation
represents a $1,000 par value), divided by the amount equal to the
aggregate life of all of those obligations. This definition,
expressed as a formula in regard to bonds, is as follows: