26-24-129. Home office records and assets; penalty for removal; out-of-state branch operations.

(a) Any domestic insurer shall:

(i) Have and maintain its principal place of business and home office in this state;

(ii) Keep in the principal place of business accurate and complete accounts and records of its assets, transactions and affairs in accordance with the usual and accepted principles and practices of insurance accounting and record keeping as applicable to the kinds of insurance the insurer transacts;

(iii) Have and maintain its assets in this state, except as to:

(A) Real property and personal property appurtenant thereto lawfully owned by the insurer and located outside this state; and

(B) Any property of the insurer as may be customary, necessary and convenient to enable and facilitate the operation of its branch offices located outside this state as referred to in subsection (d) of this section.

(b) No person shall:

(i) Remove all or a material part of the records or assets of a domestic insurer from this state except:

(A) Pursuant to a plan of merger, consolidation or bulk reinsurance which the commissioner approves under this code; or

(B) For any reasonable purposes and periods of time as the commissioner approves in writing in advance of the removal; or

(ii) Conceal the records or assets or a material part thereof from the commissioner;

(iii) Retain any records or assets or a material part thereof outside this state beyond the period authorized in the commissioner's approval under which the records were removed.

(c) Any person who violates any provision of subsection (b) of this section is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction, shall be punished by a fine of not more than ten thousand dollars ($10,000.00), or by imprisonment in the penitentiary for not more than five (5) years, or both. The commissioner may also institute delinquency proceedings against the insurer pursuant to chapter 28 of this code.

(d) This section does not prohibit an insurer from:

(i) Establishing and maintaining branch offices in other states if necessary or convenient to the transaction of its business and keeping in those branch offices the detailed records and assets customary and necessary for the servicing of its insurance in force and affairs in the territory served by the branch office, as long as the records and assets are made readily available at the branch office for examination by the commissioner at his request;

(ii) Having, depositing or transmitting the insurer's funds and assets in or to jurisdictions outside of this state required by the law of that jurisdiction or as reasonably and customarily required in the regular course of its business.