Chapter Four: Control of Insurance Business

35. The Minister of Finance may, with the approval of the Finance Committee of the Knesset, enact by regulations, for all Insurers or particular categories of Insurers, provisions as to a minimum issued and paid-up share capital and a minimum surplus of assets over liabilities.

36. (a) The Minister of Finance may enact by regulations,  generally or for particular categories of Insurers, and for all or particular branches of Insurance, provisions as to:

(1) the categories of assets which an Insurer will hold against the different categories of liabilities, and the ratios of assets to liabilities;

(2) modes of holding assets against liabilities;

(3) the cases in which an Insurer may invest in  its subsidiary, it is the holder of any means of control, in another Insurer or in an Insurance Broker;

(4) the duty of an Insurer to hold Insurance reserves and the modes of calculating them;

(5) carrying on Insurance business  abroad;

(6) the minimum rate of the share of the risk to be borne by Insurers in Israel;

(7) the maximum rate of the share of the risk to be borne by an Insurer;

(8) loans and guarantees which an Insurer may grant and the amounts thereof;

(b) Regulations under subsection (a)(8) will be enacted after consultation with the Governor of the Bank of Israel.

(c) The Commissioner may, for special reasons which he will specify in detail, impose on a particular Insurer, for a specific period, additional limitations to those prescribed in regulations under subsection (a).

37. (a) The Minister of. Finance may enact by regulations, for all or particular branches of Insurance. provisions as to –

(1) the rates of Insurance premium and other payments which an Insurer is permitted to collect from insured persons, including maximum and minimum rates and the payment of premium by installments;

(2) the duty of an Insurer who states Insurance premium under a credit scheme to inform the Insured in advance in the manner prescribed. of the credit terms and the cash terms, of the rate of interest charged, based on an annual calculation under the credit scheme, and of the rates and periods of payment of premium under the credit scheme.

(b) Regulations under subsection (a)(1) require the approval of the Finance Committee of the Knesset.

(b) Regulations under this section will not conflict with a provision which according to the Insurance Contract Law 1981 should not be stipulated against.

39. (a) The Minister of Finance may enact by regulations, for all or particular branches of Insurance, provisions as to the structure and form of an Insurance policy, including underlining particular conditions, and including the minimum size and shapes of all or some the letters of an Insurance Policy.

(b) The Commissioner may require of an Insurer that a particular detail of the policy be specially underlined as he may direct.

40. (a) An Insurer who wishes to introduce an Insurance scheme the details of which have not been submitted to the Commissioner under section 16 or to alter conditions of Insurance, or Insurance premium and other payments, the details of which have been submitted to the Commissioner as aforesaid will submit to the Commissioner notice to such effect ten days before the change occurs.

(b) In branches of insurance specified by the Minister of Finance in a decree, an Insurer will not introduce any scheme or changes referred to in subsection (a) unless the Commissioner has permitted the same.

(c) In an order referred to in subsection (b), the Minister of Finance may designate categories of business or changes to which the duty of obtaining a permit will not apply and also categories of business in which the Insurer may introduce any scheme or change referred to in subsection (a) if the Commissioner does not notify the Insurer of his objection within 30 days from the day on which he received notice of the scheme or alteration.

41. (a) An Insurer or Insurance Broker will not receive Insurance business through any person unless such person is a licenced Broker and entered into a written agreement as referred to in section 30.

(b) An Insurer or Insurance Broker will not pay brokerage commission for broking between it or him and any person save to a person who is a licenced broker.

(c) The provision of subsection (b) will not prevent the payment of brokerage commission to the heirs of a deceased Insurance Broker in respect of life Insurance effected by him as an Insurance broker or in respect of other Insurances renewed within two years from the date of his death .

(d) The Minister of Finance may, in consultation with the Committee, enact by regulations, generally or for particular classes of Insurers or Brokers, and for all or particular branches of Insurance, provisions as to the maximum brokerage commission an Insurer is permitted to pay to an Insurance Broker.

(e) For the purposes of this section, ‘brokerage” means any commission, remuneration, contribution to expenses and any other benefit, all either direct or indirect.

(c) The Commissioner may, for reasons which will be recorded, exempt an insurer from the duty of submitting a report of a subsidiary company which its business is not in Insurance or from the duty of submitting a consolidated report of itself and all or part of its subsidiary companies.

(b) In addition to the report referred to in subsection (a), a foreign Insurer will submit to the Commissioner a financial report on its business in Israel and outside Israel, prepared and certified in accordance with the law in force at its place of incorporation, within 30 days from the day on which it is submitted to the appropriate authority in the foreign state or from the day on which it is published. whichever is the earlier .

44. An Insurance Broker being an incorporated entity will prepare an audited annual financial report, for the period ending the 31^st December of every year and will submit it to the Commissioner by the 30^th April following.

45. The Commissioner may, for reasons which will be recorded, permit an Insurer or Insurance Broker to draw up an annual financial report for a period ending on a different date from the one stated in sections 42 to 44.

46. The Minister of Finance may enact by regulations provisions as to the contents, degree of detail, and as to the principles of accounting to be applied in the preparation of the annual, as well as quarterly, financial report of an Insurer or incorporated Insurance Broker, including the declarations and explanations to be attached to it.

47. (a) An Insurer will publish for, the general public, a financial report in according with section 42 or 43 in such manner and form and to such extent as the Commissioner may direct.

(b) An Insurer will permanently present, in a noticeable place at its main office and at every branch office in Israel, copies of the annual reports of the previous two years, as well as copies of the quarterly reports of the previous years published under subsection (a).

(c) The Commissioner may exempt an Insurer who has ceased to accept Insurance business from the duty of publishing a report under this section and may prescribe different modes of publication where the publication of the report is not a matter of public interest.

(b) An Insurance Broker being an incorporated entity will notify the Commissioner in writing of any change of directors or officers, or of persons carrying on broking on its behalf, within twenty-one days from the day of the change.

49. (a) An Insurer or Insurance Broker against whom winding-up or bankruptcy proceedings have been instituted will notify about it to the Commissioner without delay.

(b) A person will not disclose any information or document delivered to him under this section unless the Commissioner deems the disclosure necessary for the purposes of criminal proceedings for an offence under this Law of a hearing in the Committee.

(c) The Taxes (Collection) Ordinance will apply to the collection of the fine.

(b) Where the Commissioner refuses the application, he will notify his reasoned decision to the applicant.

(b) Where a criminal indictment for non-submission of a report is filed against the one required to submit it, he will not be required to pay the fine under section 51, and if he has paid it,  the Commissioner will direct that it will be refunded to him. .

(e) In this section, “Life Insurance” means Insurance in which the event insured against is the death or attainment of a certain age of the insured or some other person or some other event in his life, and includes accident, sickness and invalidity Insurance which is part of or a regular addition to a life Insurance policy.