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Market Conduct Annual Statement
THIS INFORMATION MAY NOT BE USED IN ANY FORM OF COMPANY ADVERTISING OR MARKETING.
The Market Conduct Annual Statement (MCAS) was developed through the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) with the input of state regulators and representatives from the industry. It is a collaborative effort among states in which the following states are participating:
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Alabama* Arizona California* Colorado District of Columbia Florida Idaho Illinois Iowa |
Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maryland Missouri Montana* Nebraska New Hampshire New Jersey North Carolina |
Ohio Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island* South Carolina Utah Virginia Washington* West Virginia Wisconsin |
* New states added for 2008 data collection due in 2009
The MCAS project is designed to provide analysis of certain key market performance data that will help regulators allocate market regulation resources where they can be most effective. It is an analysis tool that states use to review market activity of the insurance marketplace in a consistent manner and to identify companies whose practices are outside normal ranges.
The project collects data on an industry-wide basis for:
- private passenger automobile insurance;
- homeowner's insurance, and;
- life and annuity products
Market Conduct Annual Statement Filing Requirements
The MCAS is comprised of two major components: a Life & Annuity statement and a Property & Casualty statement. The Property & Casualty statement is further divided into two subsections: a Private Passenger Automobile section and a Homeowner's section.
In Louisiana, this is a mandatory filing for licensed:
- Life and health insurers that reported at least $50,000 in direct written life insurance premium or $50,000 in annuity considerations in Louisiana during the reporting period.
- Property and casualty insurers that reported at least $50,000 in more of direct written personal lines automobile premium or homeowner's insurance premium in Louisiana during the reporting period.
Companies that are not licensed to do business in Louisiana or that reported less than the minimum premium thresholds noted above do not need to file a MCAS in Louisiana.
In an effort to streamline the project, a single call letter will be sent to each company by the NAIC on behalf of each participating state. This call letter will be sent to all companies that reported the minimum premium on their 2007 Financial Annual Statement (FAS) in one or more of the participating states. Companies are responsible for reviewing the individual State Pages of the 2008 FAS to confirm exactly which states the company is required to file a MCAS.
Market Conduct Annual Statement Contact Form
Every insurer required to file a MCAS in one or more of the participating states must designate a single contact person responsible for the overall project. Beginning in 2009, this information is being collected electronically on the jurat page of the company’s Financial Annual Statement.
Market Conduct Annual Statement Filing Instructions and Database
The current reporting period for the MCAS is January 1, 2008, through December 31, 2008. All licensed insurers with the minimum level of subject premium in Louisiana during the reporting period must file the MCAS in Louisiana.
The reporting deadlines for the next MCAS are as follows:
- Property & Casualty MCAS - April 30, 2009
- Life & Annuity MCAS - June 30, 2009
The reporting requirements and necessary databases will be posted on the NAIC's Web site (http://www.naic.org/industry_market_conduct_statement.htm). The data requests and the necessary databases for both the Property & Casualty MCAS and the Life & Annuity MCAS will be available for download after January 31, 2009.
The required language for the Certificate of Compliance has been posted on the MCAS page of the NAIC’s Web site (http://www.naic.org/industrymarketconductstatement.htm).
The required Certificate of Compliance should be printed on company letterhead and an electronic copy of the completed certification should be included with the Company's MCAS filing. The required language on the Certificate of Compliance must be used as provided and may not be changed.
For this purpose, an electronic copy of the Certificate of Compliance is defined as a completed Portable Document Format (.pdf) document, Word (.doc) document, Tagged Image Format (.tif) document, or other mutually agreed upon format. Louisiana will not consider the MCAS filing to be complete until an electronic copy of a properly executed Certificate of Compliance has been received.
A separate Certificate of Compliance for each company required to file the MCAS must be completed. Do not complete a single certification for an entire group. However, a single Certificate of Compliance may be used by a company in all states in which it is required to submit a filing. For example, if a company must file the MCAS in eight states, the company may complete one Certificate of Compliance and submit an electronic copy of that certification to each of the eight states when it sends the data. A new certification with a current date must accompany any revised filings.
Instructions and additional information about the MCAS may be obtained from the NAIC's Web site at http://www.naic.org/industry_market_conduct_statement.htm. We strongly recommend that your contact person review the data call instructions and FAQs for the MCAS prior to downloading and completing the Microsoft Access database. These documents explain in more detail the requirements of the MCAS.
It will be necessary for you to download the appropriate database from the NAIC Web site and utilize it to create and submit the required filings. Do not open the database directly from the NAIC Web site or you may be unable to save your data and create a filing.
Should bugs in the database be discovered, the appropriate revisions will be made and a new version of the database will be posted on the NAIC Web site as soon as possible. As such, you should download a new version of the database immediately prior to entering any data into the database and use the new version of the database to record the company data and create the required filings.
A separate filing is required for each company within a group required to report in Louisiana. Data for affiliated companies may not be combined into one submission for the MCAS. Do not submit filings for companies that are not licensed in Louisiana and/or do not meet the minimum level of subject premium during the period under review.
When completing the database, please enter the name of the individual responsible for the overall MCAS filing as the contact person and not the individual collecting and entering the information into the database. The contact information provided in the filing is the information we will use to contact the Company regarding questions/issues found with the data.
Louisiana is accepting filings via e-mail and we strongly encourage you to submit the filing electronically via the appropriate option contained in the database.
If you have any questions, please refer to the Data Call and Definition document posted on the NAIC Web site and check the Market Conduct Annual Statement FAQs on the NAIC Web site first to see if an answer to your question has already been posted. If your question has not been answered on the NAIC Web site, you can submit new questions or request information by sending an e-mail to the NAIC Staff Support assigned to the MCAS as listed on the NAIC Web site. Questions submitted to the NAIC Staff Support will be reviewed and responded to by the participating states. You may also contact Larry Hawkins at (225) 342-9173 or lhawkins@ldi.state.la.us.
Market Conduct Annual Statement Industry Averages
The following statewide averages and charts indicating where the number of reporting companies whose ratios fall within various ranges are for informational purposes only and do not represent standards for market behavior. This information does not establish compliance or non-compliance with the Louisiana Insurance Code, Directives, Rules, Regulations, or Bulletins.
In order to compare your Company’s results to these statewide average ratios, you can obtain the ratios based on your Company’s MCAS data from the database that was used for the MCAS filing process. Along with statewide average ratios for each category, a chart indicating the number of reporting companies whose ratios fall within various ranges is also presented to show how your company’s results compare with the other reporting companies in the state of Louisiana. Comparing your company’s results in this way should enable you to draw some comparison between your company’s performance and the aggregate market in Louisiana.
| Life & Annuity | Property & Casualty |
|---|---|
| 2008 | 2008 |
| 2007 | 2007 |