Ontario Securities Commission: Rules & Regulation: Orders & Rulings


IN THE MATTER OF

THE SECURITIES ACT

R.S.O. 1990, CHAPTER S.5, AS AMENDED (THE "Act")

AND

IN THE MATTER OF

THE SOCIETY OF LLOYD'S

 

Headnote

Society that provides administrative, accounting and regulatory services to a brokered specialist insurance market exempted from adviser registration requirements in clause 25(1)(c) of the Act in connection with the society acting as an adviser in respect of the assets that comprise certain trust funds - Trust funds established to comply with regulatory capital requirements under the Insurance Companies Act (Canada).

Statutes Cited

Lloyd's Act 1871 (U.K.), 1871, c. 21.

Securities Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. S.5, as amended, ss. 25, 74(1).

Insurance Companies Act, S.C. 1991, c. 47.

Lloyd's Act 1982 (U.K.), 1982, c. 14.

Canada Business Corporations Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. C-44.

Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (U.K.), 2000, c. 8.

Insurance Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. I.8.

Regulation Cited

Regulation made under the Securities Act, R.R.O. 1990, Reg. 1015, as am.



RULING

(Subsection 74(1)

UPON the application (the "Application") of the Society incorporated by Lloyd's Act 1871 (U.K.) by the name of Lloyd's (the "Lloyd's Corporation") to the Ontario Securities Commission (the "Commission") for a ruling, pursuant to subsection 74(1) of the Act, that Lloyd's Corporation shall not be subject to clause 25(1)(c) of the Act in connection with Lloyd's Corporation acting as a portfolio adviser for funds deposited in trust by underwriting members ("Members") of Lloyd's Corporation pursuant to the Insurance Companies Act (Canada) (the "Federal Insurance Companies Act");

AND UPON considering the Application and the recommendation of staff of the Commission;

AND UPON Lloyd's Corporation having representing to the Commission that:

1. Lloyd's is a self-regulating organisation operating under the provisions of Lloyd's Act 1982 (U.K.) (the "Lloyd's Act").

2. The governing body of Lloyd's Corporation is the Council of Lloyd's (the "Council"). Section 6(1) of the Lloyd's Act provides that the Council shall have responsibility for the management and superintendence of the affairs of the Lloyd's Corporation and the power to regulate and direct the business of insurance at Lloyd's (the "Lloyd's Market"). The Council is ultimately responsible for regulating the Lloyd's Market under the Lloyd's Act. Lloyd's Corporation provides administrative, accounting and regulatory services to the Lloyd's Market.

3. Lloyd's Corporation has also recently incorporated Lloyd's Canada Inc. (the "Canadian Subsidiary"), a wholly-owned subsidiary under the Canada Business Corporations Act, to perform some of its functions in Canada.

4. Lloyd's Corporation is not registered as an adviser under the Act or under the securities legislation of any other Canadian jurisdiction.

5. None of Lloyd's Corporation, the Canadian Subsidiary nor the Lloyd's Market is an "insurance company" as referred to in the Act.

6. The Lloyd's Market is a brokered market that focuses on, among other things, high risk, specialist insurance for businesses. The Lloyd's Market is comprised of a number of underwriting syndicates ("Syndicates") that both compete and co-operate.

7. The capital supporting risks underwritten by Syndicates at Lloyd's Market is provided by either individual Members, who trade with unlimited liability, or corporate Members, who trade with limited liability. Members must satisfy financial requirements laid down by the Council. Individual members are sometimes known as "Names".

8. There are currently 86 Syndicates underwriting in the Lloyd's Market for the 2002 year of account, nearly all of whom underwrite Canadian business. In 2001, there were 143 Members resident in Canada, of whom 73 were resident in Ontario.

9. The Members of each Syndicate appoint a Lloyd's Corporation underwriting agent (a "Managing Agent") to act as agent of the Member for the purpose of accepting risks on behalf of the Syndicate, including conducting that part of the Canadian business carried on by the Member as a member of that Syndicate. While Managing Agents are permitted by Lloyd's Corporation to carry on business as underwriting agents at Lloyd's Market and are regulated and supervised by Lloyd's Corporation, Lloyd's Corporation does not own them. The Managing Agents are resident in the U.K.

10. The investment management activities of the Lloyd's Corporation and of each of the Managing Agents are conducted in accordance with the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (U.K.) (the "UK Financial Services Act"). Under the UK Financial Services Act, a person who carries on a "regulated activity" such as investment management, needs to be either an "authorised person" or an "exempt person" and, where authorised, needs to have permission either expressly given to the person by the Financial Services Authority (the " UK Financial Services Authority") under Part IV of the UK Financial Services Act or resulting from any other provision of the UK Financial Services Act. The Lloyd's Corporation is an "authorised person" under the UK Financial Services Act and has permission under that Act to act as an investment manager under that Act in connection with the carrying on by Members of the insurance business. Each of the Managing Agents is also an "authorised person" under the UK Financial Services Act and has been given permission by the UK Financial Services Authority to act as an investment manager in connection with managing the insurance business of Syndicates.

11. Under the Federal Insurance Companies Act, Lloyds Members, collectively, are authorised to insure risks as a "foreign company". Under the Federal Insurance Companies Act, "foreign company" is defined to include an "association", within the meaning of Part XIII of the Federal Insurance Companies Act, the insurance of risks in Canada of which has been approved by order of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (the "Federal Superintendent") under Part XIII of the Federal Insurance Companies Act; and, an "association" is defined to mean an association of persons formed in a foreign country on the plan known as Lloyd's, whereby each member of the association participating in a policy becomes liable for a stated, limited or proportionate part of the whole amount payable under the policy. In addition to being governed by the Federal Insurance Companies Act, Members, collectively, are licensed as insurers under applicable insurance legislation in all provinces and territories to transact most classes of insurance, and the relevant Canadian business of Members is subject to and governed in accordance with the applicable requirements of such legislation in the same manner as any other licensed insurer. Syndicates, in turn, accept business from around 580 approved local broker firms, or "correspondents", across Canada.

12. None of the mind or management of Lloyd's Corporation or the Managing Agents is in Ontario.

13. Under the Federal Insurance Companies Act, all insurers that are foreign companies are required to maintain a trust fund for solvency purposes. Lloyd's Corporation Members comply with this requirement in the form of the Lloyd's Canadian Trust Fund (the "Canadian Trust Fund") and the Lloyd's Canadian margin fund (the "Canadian Margin Fund"). The Canadian Trust Fund and Canadian Margin Fund have been established to comply with the regulatory capital requirements under the Federal Insurance Companies Act. The Federal Superintendent has approved, and is a party to, trust agreements (each, a "Trust Deed") for each of the Canadian Trust Fund and the Canadian Margin Fund.

14. The Federal Insurance Companies Act requires each Member to maintain a trust fund in relation to its insurance risks in Canada. The Canadian Trust Fund is a collective term for a number of distinct and separate funds of individual trusts which have been established for each Member (each, a "Member's Canadian Trust Fund"). Each Member's Canadian Trust Fund receives all Canadian situs risk net insurance premiums, and is used to pay all claims and expenses related to the Canadian situs risk insurance underwriting business of the Member.

15. The Canadian Margin Fund is a joint trust fund which is available to satisfy "matured claims" against any Member, the beneficiaries of which are policyholders, third-party claimants and, ultimately, certain Members that are current contributors. The Council has discretionary investment powers under the Canadian Margin Fund.

16. At December 31, 2001, the Canadian Trust Fund was valued at approximately $1,138,000,000 and the Canadian Margin Fund was valued at approximately $176,000,000.

17. Royal Trust Corporation of Canada, at its Toronto offices, acts as trustee (the "Trustee") for each of the Canadian Trust Fund and the Canadian Margin Fund, and each Fund is governed by a Trust Deed between Lloyd's Corporation, the Trustee and the Federal Superintendent.

18. Pursuant to the Trust Deed for the Canadian Trust Fund, each Managing Agent has investment discretion with respect to that portion of the Canadian Trust Fund attributable to the Canadian business of Members carried on by the Managing Agent.

19. In order to enhance returns and reduce costs, Lloyd's Corporation is proposing to invite Managing Agents to invest the assets of the Canadian Trust Fund, in respect of which they have investment discretion, in a commingled investment account (the "Commingled Account") established for the assets of the Canadian Margin Fund, by way of an undivided pro rata share of each investment in the Commingled Account.

20. The Council has appointed the Lloyd's Treasury Services ("Treasury Services") department, which comprises officers and employees of Lloyd's Corporation, as investment manager of the Canadian Margin Fund, which investment management functions are over-seen by an employee of Lloyd's Treasury Services department who is a person approved by the UK Financial Services Authority. Because the Canadian Margin Fund will provide a substantial portion of the assets for the Commingled Account, the Treasury Services department will also act as investment manager for the Commingled Account and as such will have the exclusive authority to make all investment decisions with respect to funds available for investment.

21. The investment activities of the Managing Agents and the Treasury Services department are functionally the same as the investment activities of any other insurance company in respect of its regulatory and working capital.

22. Although an "association" (as defined in the Federal Insurance Companies Act) is a "foreign company" for purposes of the Federal Insurance Companies Act, neither the Act nor the Insurance Act (Ontario) contains a similar definition. Neither the Act nor the Insurance Act (Ontario) defines the term "insurance company". The word "company" is defined in the Act, but it requires an entity to be incorporated. The term "insurance company" is used in the Insurance Act (Ontario), but specific references are also made to licensing syndicates, suggesting that Syndicates are not insurance companies within the meaning of the Insurance Act (Ontario). Section 42(1) of the Insurance Act (Ontario) enumerates classes of insurers to whom licences may be issued, including "underwriters or syndicates of underwriters operating under the plan known as Lloyd's".

23. Each of the Canadian Trust Fund and the Canadian Margin Fund is constituted to provide regulatory capital or "assets in Canada" as required under the Federal Insurance Companies Act for the protection of the interests of policyholders and not primarily as an investment fund for Members.

24. To the extent Lloyd's Corporation is considered to be acting as an adviser in Ontario in connection with its Treasury Services acting as investment manager for the Commingled Account, it cannot rely on the exemption from clause 25(1)(c) of the Act that is made available in clause 34(a) of the Act to an "insurance company licensed under the Insurance Act". Nor can Lloyd's Corporation rely on the exemption from clause 25(1)(c) that is made available to such insurance companies that are regulated by the federal Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions in accordance with clause 209(10)(b) of Regulation 1015 made under the Act.

AND UPON the Commission being satisfied that to do so would not be prejudicial to the public interest;

IT IS RULED, pursuant to subsection 74(1) of the Act, that Lloyd's Corporation is not subject to the requirements of clause 25(1)(c) of the Act in connection with Lloyd's Corporation acting an adviser in respect of the assets that comprise the Canadian Trust Fund or the Canadian Margin Fund.

June 4, 2002.

"Paul M. Moore"                    "Robert W. Korthals"