17:16D-4 Licenses.

4. Licenses. No person shall engage in the business of financing insurance premiums in this State without first having obtained a license as a premium finance company from the Commissioner of Banking and Insurance, except that any State or national bank authorized to do business in this State shall be authorized to transact business as a premium finance company, subject to all of the provisions of this act, except that it shall not be required to obtain a license or pay a license fee hereunder. Any person who shall engage in the business of financing insurance premiums in this State without a valid license as provided hereunder shall, upon conviction as provided in R.S. 17:33-2, be subject to a fine of not more than $300. With respect to a license fee imposed prior to the implementation of the assessment pursuant to P.L.2005, c.199 (C.17:1C-33 et al.), the commissioner shall charge for a license such fee as he shall prescribe by rule or regulation, not to exceed $1,000. Upon implementation of the assessment pursuant to P.L.2005, c.199 (C.17:1C-33 et al.), a license fee shall no longer be imposed or collected by the commissioner pursuant to this section, however an insurance premium finance agency shall pay to the commissioner at the time of application a nonrefundable application fee not to exceed $1,000. The license shall run from the date of issuance to the end of the licensing period of not less than two years as set by the commissioner by regulation. The fee imposed prior to implementation of the assessment pursuant to P.L.2005, c.199 (C.17:1C-33 et al.), for said license shall be paid to the commissioner for the use of the State. No portion of the license fee imposed prior to implementation of the assessment pursuant to P.L.2005, c.199 (C.17:1C-33 et al.), shall be refunded if the license is surrendered by the licensee or suspended or revoked by the commissioner.

Before any licensee changes his address he shall return his license to the commissioner who shall indorse the license indicating the change.

The person to whom the license or the renewal thereof may be issued shall file sworn answers, subject to the penalties of perjury, to such interrogatories as the commissioner may require. The commissioner shall have authority, at any time, to require the applicant fully to disclose the identity of all stockholders, partners, officers and employees, and he may, in his discretion, refuse to issue or renew a license in the name of any firm, partnership, or corporation if he is not satisfied that any officer, employee, stockholder, or partner thereof who may materially influence the applicant's conduct meets the standards of this act.

L.1968,c.221,s.4; amended 1981, c.321, ss.4,13; 2005, c.199, s.23; 2007, c.81, s.23.