February 14, 1980

SUBJECT: INSURANCE

Circular Letter No. 3 (1980)

TO: ALL INSURERS LICENSED TO WRITE PRIVATE PASSENGER AUTOMOBILE AND FIRE OR FIRE AND EXTENDED COVERAGE INSURANCE POLICIES WHO ARE SUBJECT TO THE REPORTING REQUIREMENTS OF INSURANCE DEPARTMENT REGULATION NO. 90 (11 NYCRR 218) "PROHIBITION OF GEOGRAPHICAL REDLINING."

RE: REPORTS AND DATA SPECIFICATIONS

1. Amendment to Regulation 90 -

On September 28, 1979 I promulgated Insurance Department Regulation No. 90 (11 NYCRR 218) as the implementing regulation for Chapters 503 and 690 of the Laws of 1979 which prohibit geographical redlining in the writing of policies of private passenger automobile and fire and extended coverage insurance in New York State.

Section 218.7 of the Regulation, entitled "Reports to Superintendent" requires insurers to maintain specified records commencing January 1, 1980 and to submit a report for the 1980 calendar year by April 1, 1981. After extensive meetings with insurers, the various trade associations and statistical agents of this Department, I have concluded that more orderly and reliable data should be obtainable if records are compiled beginning with transactions effective on and after April 1, 1980. Annual Reports will be required to be filed commencing May 1, 1981 with the first report covering the last 9 months of 1980. Records of terminated agents and brokers will, however, be required to be maintained as originally prescribed. A proposed amendment to Regulation 90 to this effect has been noticed in the State Register and the text of the proposed amendment, which will be finalized March 21st, follows:

"218.7 Reports to Superintendent*

(a) In order to effectuate this regulation insurers shall, no later than January 1, 1980, maintain records by U. S. Postal Zip Code of their agents and brokers in this state and maintain records of all agents and brokers in this state whose contracts or accounts have been terminated on or after August 1, 1979 by U. S. Postal Zip Code.

(b) In order to effectuate this regulation insurers shall also maintain by U. S. Postal Zip Code a record of: (i) all policies subject to this regulation issued, renewed, cancelled (other than for non-payment of premium) or non-renewed on and after [January] April 1, 1980; and (ii) all applications for insurance subject to this regulation on which the insurer on and after [January] April 1, 1980 refuses to issue an insurance policy. For private passenger automobile insurance the zip code used may be that of the address to which premium notices are mailed. For policies with a term of [more] other than one year or no fixed expiration date, "renewed" means the [first] annual anniversary date.

(c) The information required to be maintained by(a) and (b) above shall be kept current and made available to the Insurance Department upon its request.

(d) Reports for [the previous] the nine month period ending December 31, 1980 and for each full calendar year thereafter containing the information required to be maintained in (a) and (b) above shall be filed [, beginning April 1, 1981, and annually thereafter, with the Insurance Department annually on May 1 after the close of the preceding year. Such reports shall be made [on] in a [form] format to be prescribed by the Superintendent and every such report shall be a public record."

2. Data Specifications

Insurers subject to Regulation 90 shall submit the required data to the Insurance Department in accordance with the instructions contained in the attached "Regulation 90 - Data Specifications" which were prepared after extensive review with insurers and the various trade associations and statistical agents. The data will provide the Insurance Department with an important part of the information it requires in order to monitor the anti-redlining laws. In addition, I am directing the New York Automobile Insurance Plan (Assigned Risk) and the New York Property Insurance Underwriting Association to maintain their summary records by Zip Code so that I will have a complete picture of all business being written in this state.

I shall expect full and complete compliance with the new anti-redlining laws and implementing regulation from all licensees of this Department.

Very truly yours,

[SIGNATURE]

ALBERT B. LEWIS

Superintendent of Insurance

 

ATTACHMENT

GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS

The required data may be submitted on punch cards, or as card images on magnetic tape. Should the submission be made on cards, 80 column cards must be used, and all cards must be verified. An 80-80 listing should be submitted along with the cards.

Should the submission be made on tape, the following conventions must be followed:

1. Tape must be in an IBM compatible format.
2. Tape must be 1600 bpi, 9-track, any size reel.
3. Tape labels must be IBM standard labels. External labels must be clear.
4. Logical record length = 80; blocksize = 2000; record format = FB.
5. DSN should be NYI.ccccc.n where ccccc = NAIC code number. If more that one company is submitted per tape, ccccc should be the code of the first company, and n = the number of companies represented on that tape.
6. An 80-80 listing of the tape should be submitted along with the tape

CODING INSTRUCTIONS

Company Code: Use your company's 5-digit NAIC code.

Year of Report: Use last digit of report year (1980 = 0).

Auto & Pers. Fire If reporting Cars, enter a "C"; if Policies, a "P".

Reporting Codes: If reporting Homes, enter an "O"; if Policies, a "P".

County Code: Use codes as shown in Attachment A.

These codes need not be part of your permanent record, but must be generated at report time.

Special Note - Commercial Fire, Personal Fire, and Auto:

a. Non-Renewals & Canc. by Company should be company initiated, and must not include Canc for Non-Payment

b. Renewals are to reflect the anniversary of the colic without regard to the term and/or billing periods.

Special Note - Applications:

a. Use dummy ZIP code 99999 for policies with no insure locations within the ZIP code area in which the policy is issued for delivery.

COUNTY CODES