Section 1102. Insurer's license required; issuance

(a) No person, firm,
  association, corporation or joint-stock company shall  do  an  insurance
  business  in this state unless authorized by a license in force pursuant
  to the provisions of this chapter, or exempted by the provisions of this
  chapter  from  such  requirement.   Any   person,   firm,   association,
  corporation   or  joint-stock  company  which  transacts  any  insurance
  business in this state while not authorized to do so by a license issued
  and in force pursuant to this chapter, or exempted by this chapter  from
  the  requirement of having such license, shall, in addition to any other
  penalty provided by law, forfeit to the people of this state the sum  of
  one  thousand  dollars  for  the  first  violation and two thousand five
  hundred dollars for each subsequent violation.
    (b) No corporation organized under any law of this state shall  do  an
  insurance  business  outside this state unless so authorized pursuant to
  the provisions of this chapter or exempted by  the  provisions  of  this
  chapter from such requirement.
    (c)  Every  insurer  organized  prior  to  the  first  day of October,
  eighteen hundred ninety-two, as an insurer under any general or  special
  law  of  this  state which was doing an insurance business in this state
  immediately prior to the first day of January, nineteen hundred forty in
  compliance  with  the  insurance  law  then  in  force  and  not  as  an
  organization  exempted  therefrom,  shall  be  deemed  licensed to do an
  insurance business in this state, subject to this chapter.
    (d) Except  as  otherwise  provided  in  subsection  (h)  hereof,  the
  superintendent  may  issue  a license to any insurer to do in this state
  the kinds of insurance business for  which  such  insurer  is  qualified
  under  the  provisions of this chapter and under its charter. Every such
  license shall contain the name of the licensee, its home office address,
  the state or country under whose laws it was  organized,  the  kinds  of
  insurance  business,  as defined in this chapter, which it is authorized
  to do in this state, and the term of such  license.  The  superintendent
  may  refuse  to  issue or renew any such license if in his judgment such
  refusal will best promote the interests of the people of this state.
    (e) (1) Before licensing any such corporation organized under  section
  one  thousand  two  hundred  one  of  this  chapter, to do any insurance
  business, the superintendent shall:
    (A) If such corporation be a stock corporation, cause  an  examination
  to  be  made  into its affairs in accordance with the provisions of this
  chapter; and if it appears from the report upon  such  examination  that
  the  amount  of capital and surplus required by law has been paid in and
  is possessed by the corporation in cash or in investments  permitted  by
  this  chapter  as  minimum  capital  or  minimum surplus to policyholder
  investments under section one thousand four hundred two of this chapter,
  the superintendent shall file such report in his office and  notify  the
  corporation thereof;
    (B)  If  such  corporation  be a mutual corporation, require proof (by
  statements of at least three incorporators subscribed  and  affirmed  by
  such  incorporators  as true under the penalties of perjury, and by such
  investigation or examination of the affairs of such  corporation  as  he
  may  deem  it  expedient  to  make  pursuant  to  the provisions of this
  chapter) that:
    (i) the corporation has fully complied with the applicable  provisions
  of this chapter,
    (ii)  it  has  the  required initial surplus in cash or investments as
  prescribed in this chapter,
    (iii) it has the required number and amount of bona fide  applications
  for insurance as prescribed in this chapter,
    (iv) the membership list is genuine, and

    (v)  every  member  has  paid  in  cash  the  required  premium on the
  insurance applied for and will take the policies as agreed within  sixty
  days after a license has been issued to such corporation.
  If  the  superintendent  finds  such  proof of the foregoing facts to be
  sufficient, he shall file it in his office and  notify  the  corporation
  thereof;
    (C)  Upon payment of the appropriate fees by such corporation, cause a
  copy of its declaration and charter, certified by him, to be  filed  and
  recorded  in  the  office  of  the  clerk  of  the  county in which such
  corporation has its principal office.
    (2) The superintendent may refuse a license to any such corporation if
  he finds, after notice and hearing, that any  proposed  incorporator  or
  director   of   a  stock  corporation,  or  any  director  of  a  mutual
  corporation,  has  been  convicted  of  any   crime   involving   fraud,
  dishonesty, or like moral turpitude, or is an untrustworthy person. As a
  part   of  such  determination,  the  superintendent  is  authorized  to
  fingerprint  applicants  for  licensure.  Such  fingerprints  shall   be
  submitted  to  the  division  of  criminal  justice services for a state
  criminal history record check, as defined in subdivision one of  section
  three thousand thirty-five of the education law, and may be submitted to
  the  federal  bureau  of  investigation  for a national criminal history
  record check.
    (3) The corporation, on receiving notice from the superintendent  that
  it  has  complied with this subsection, shall thereupon deposit with the
  superintendent such monies or securities as may be required by law.
    (4)  Upon  compliance  with  this  section  and   any   other   lawful
  prerequisites   for   the   issuance   of   an  insurer's  license,  the
  superintendent may, pursuant to this section, issue a  license  to  such
  corporation  to  do  the  kind  or  kinds  of  business specified in its
  charter; provided that this subsection shall not apply  to  co-operative
  fire  insurance  companies, fraternal benefit societies, or corporations
  organized under article forty-three of this chapter.
    (f) Except as may be otherwise provided in this chapter, every license
  to do an insurance business shall be issued to a  single  licensee,  who
  shall be either an individual or corporation.
    (g)  (1)  No  license  to  do  an  insurance business, or to act as an
  insurance agent, agency or broker, shall be granted to any person, firm,
  association,  corporation,  or  joint-stock  company  proposing  to   do
  business  under  a name identical with, or so similar to as to be likely
  to deceive or mislead the public, the name of any insurer then  licensed
  or authorized to do any kind of insurance business within this state, or
  of  any  proposed  domestic  insurance  corporation  whose name has been
  approved pursuant to section  one  thousand  two  hundred  one  of  this
  chapter within six months preceding the application for such license, or
  of  any  domestic corporation, organized but not yet licensed, which has
  not  forfeited  its  charter   because   of   non-use;   provided,   the
  superintendent  may,  in  his  discretion, upon satisfactory proof of an
  appropriate  resolution  of  any  insurance   corporation's   board   of
  directors,  grant  a  license  to  do  any  different  kind of insurance
  business to another  person,  firm,  association,  joint-stock  company,
  insurance  agent,  agency  or broker, or insurance corporation, having a
  similar, but not identical, name. Notwithstanding any other provision of
  this article, the superintendent may refuse to grant a license to do  an
  insurance  business,  or to act as an insurance agent, agency or broker,
  to any person, firm, association,  corporation  or  joint-stock  company
  proposing  to  do  business  under  a name which is likely to deceive or
  mislead the public in this state.

    (2) The provisions of this subsection shall not  apply  to  a  license
  renewal  for a foreign or alien insurer, or to any corporation formed as
  part of a plan, approved by the superintendent and  by  the  court,  for
  rehabilitation  of  a domestic insurance corporation pursuant to article
  seventy-four   of  this  chapter.  A  domestic  corporation,  formed  by
  reincorporation, reorganization or consolidation of other  corporations,
  or  upon  the sale of the property or franchises of another corporation,
  or a corporation acquiring or becoming possessed of all of  the  estate,
  property,  rights, privileges and franchises of any other corporation or
  corporations by merger, may have a name identical with, or  similar  to,
  that  of  any  corporation to whose franchises it has succeeded, if such
  other corporation was then licensed to do the business of  insurance  in
  this state.
    (h)  No  license  to  transact  any kind of insurance business in this
  state shall be issued or renewed to any  foreign  or  alien  insurer  or
  issued  or  continued  in  effect  to  any  domestic  insurer  which  is
  controlled by another state  of  the  United  States  or  by  a  foreign
  government  or  by  any  political subdivision of either, or which is an
  agency of any such state, government or subdivision,  unless:  (1)  such
  insurer  was  so  controlled  or  constituted,  and was authorized to do
  business in this state, on or prior to January first,  nineteen  hundred
  fifty-six;  or  (2) such insurer is not authorized to transact the kinds
  of insurance specified in paragraph one, two or three of subsection  (a)
  of  section  one  thousand  one hundred thirteen of this article and the
  superintendent determines that:
    (A) such insurer does not  receive  a  subsidy  or  other  competitive
  advantage,  as  a result of such control or status, that would enable it
  to compete unfairly with similarly situated  authorized  insurers  which
  are not so controlled or constituted;
    (B)  such  insurer  is  not  entitled to claim sovereign immunity as a
  result of such control or status, or has waived the sovereign immunity;
    (C) the use of such insurer would not be detrimental to the  interests
  of the people of this state; and
    (D)  such  insurer otherwise satisfies all applicable requirements for
  the issuance or renewal of such license.