17:23-22. Examination by commissioner

3. a. The commissioner or any of his examiners may conduct an examination of the assets and liabilities, method of conducting business and all other affairs of any company as often as the commissioner in his sole discretion deems appropriate but shall at a minimum, conduct an examination of every insurer licensed in this State not less frequently than once every five years. In scheduling and determining the nature, scope and frequency of the examinations, the commissioner shall consider such matters as the results of financial statement analyses and ratios, changes in management or ownership, actuarial opinions, reports of independent certified public accountants and other criteria as set forth in the Examiners' Handbook adopted by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners and in effect when the commissioner exercises discretion under this section.

b. For purposes of completing an examination of any company under this act, the commissioner may examine or investigate any person, or the business of any person, insofar as such examination or investigation is, in the sole discretion of the commissioner, necessary or material to the examination of the company.

c. In lieu of an examination under this act of any foreign or alien insurer licensed in this State, the commissioner may accept an examination report on the company as prepared by the insurance department or other regulatory agency for the company's state of domicile or port-of-entry state until January 1, 1994. Thereafter, such reports may only be accepted if:

(1) the insurance department or other regulatory agency was at the time of the examination accredited under the National Association of Insurance Commissioners' Financial Regulation Standards and Accreditation Program; or

(2) the examination is performed under the supervision of an accredited insurance department or other regulatory agency or with the participation of one or more examiners who are employed by such an accredited state insurance department or other regulatory agency and who, after a review of the examination workpapers and report, state under oath that the examination was performed in a manner consistent with the standards and procedures required by their insurance department or other regulatory agency.

d. The reasonable expenses of any examination and any proceedings conducted under this act shall be fixed and determined by the commissioner, and he shall collect them from the company examined, which shall pay them on a presentation of an account of the expenses on such form as determined by the commissioner. If any company, after the examination, is adjudged insolvent by a court of competent jurisdiction, the expense of the examination, if unpaid, shall be ordered out of the assets of the company.

L.1993,c.236,s.3.