Section 66. Except as otherwise provided, no domestic life company shall invest any of its funds in any unincorporated business or enterprise, or in the stocks or evidence of indebtedness of any corporation the owners or holders of which stock or evidence of indebtedness may in any event be or become liable on account thereof to any assessment except for taxes. No domestic life insurance company shall invest in, acquire or hold directly or indirectly more than twenty-five percent of the capital stock of any corporation other than other insurance companies, or except as otherwise provided in sections sixty-six C, sixty-six D and two hundred and six A; nor, except for investments in the capital stock or other insurance companies and except for investments under section sixty-six C and section two hundred and six A, shall more than two percent of its assets be invested in the capital stock of any one corporation, other than in insurance companies as provided in this section, without the approval of the commissioner, and such approval shall be granted only if after making such investment such life company's surplus and its asset valuation reserve shall be reasonable in relation to its outstanding liabilities and adequate to its financial needs. The disposition of the property of a domestic life company shall be at all times the responsibility of its board of directors. Nothing in this section shall prohibit or limit the investment of the funds of a domestic life company in the stocks of corporations organized under chapter one hundred and twenty-one A.

Nothing in this section or in section sixty-three shall prevent such a life company from investing or loaning any funds, not required to be invested as provided in section sixty-three, in any manner that the directors may determine; provided, however, that no loan of such funds shall be made to an individual unless it is secured by collateral security; and provided further, that such funds shall not be invested in the purchase of stock or evidence of indebtedness prohibited by the preceding paragraph except as hereinafter provided. Any such life company may invest such funds in the capital stock of a trust company incorporated in and doing business in the commonwealth or of a national banking association incorporated under federal law and located in any one of the New England states, if such trust company or association has paid dividends in cash of not less than four per cent on its capital stock in each of the five years next preceding the date of the investment and if the amount of surplus of such trust company or association is at least equal to fifty per cent of the amount of its capital stock; but no such life company shall invest in the aggregate an amount in excess of two and one half per cent of its reserve in the purchase of stock of such trust companies and national banking associations, nor shall it invest an amount in excess of two per cent of its reserve in the purchase of the stock of any one such trust company or association, except that if two or more such trust companies or associations merge or consolidate or one or more such trust companies is merged or consolidated with one or more such associations, such a life company may acquire stock of the absorbing or consolidating trust company or national banking association to an amount in excess of two per cent but not in excess of two and one half per cent of the reserve of such life company, if such stock is received in exchange for stock of the consolidating or merging companies or associations owned by the life company at the time of the merger or consolidation.

Nothing in this section or in section sixty-three shall prevent such a life company from investing or loaning any funds, not required to be invested as provided in section sixty-three, in the transferable certificates of participation or shares, bonds, notes or other evidences of indebtedness whether or not secured by collateral, of an association or trust as defined in section one of chapter one hundred and eighty-two. Any such association or trust shall be treated as if it were a corporation for purposes of this section and of section sixty-six D.

Nothing in this section, section sixty-three or sixty-three A, other than subsection five of said section sixty-three A, shall prevent any such life company from entering into an agreement for the purpose of protecting the interests of the company in securities lawfully held by it, or for the purpose of reorganization of a corporation which issued securities so held, and from depositing such securities with a committee or depositaries appointed under such agreement, nor from accepting corporate stock or bonds or other securities which may be distributed pursuant to any such agreement, or to any plan of reorganization; and nothing in this section, section sixty-three or section sixty-three A shall prevent any such life company from acquiring or holding any property acquired in satisfaction of any debt previously contracted, or that shall be obtained by sale or foreclosure of any security held by it; provided, that if the property owned be such as is prohibited from investment by such company, it shall dispose of such property, if personal, within one year, or if real estate, within five years, from the date when it acquired title to the same, unless the commissioner shall extend the time for such disposition for the reason that the interests of the company will suffer materially by a forced sale of such property.

A record of such extension shall be made by the commissioner, which shall state the time of the extension, and in that event the sale of said property may be made at any time before the expiration of the time of such extension.