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The Insurance (Fees) Regulations 2000

S.I. 2000/670 · Made 8 March 2000

Original text. legislation.gov.uk does not revise statutory instruments, so later amendments are not shown here. Changes made to it are listed under each provision when known.

INSURANCE

Made 8th March 2000

Laid before Parliament 9th March 2000

Coming into force 1st April 2000

Whereas the Treasury have had regard to the object of securing (so far as practicable) that the amount of the fees payable under section 94A of the Insurance Companies Act 1982f1 in the year beginning on 1st April 2000 by insurance companies and the Council of Lloyd’s is equal to the cost likely to be incurred in that period by the Treasury in exercising the functions specified in regulation 10 of these Regulations–

Now, therefore, the Treasury, in exercise of the powers conferred by sections 94A(1) and (3), 96(1)f2 and 97(1) and (2) of that Act and now vested in themf3, hereby make the following Regulations–

Annotations to the whole text

Footnotes

f1

1982 c. 50; section 94A was inserted by the Insurance (Fees) Act 1985 (c. 46).

f2

See the definition of “prescribed”.

f3

References to the “Treasury” were substituted for references to the “Secretary of State” in sections 94A and 97(1) of the Insurance Companies Act 1982 by article 8 of, and paragraph 51 of the Schedule to, the Transfer of Functions (Insurance) Order 1997 (S.I. 1997/2781).

Contents

  1. 1Regulation 1
  2. 2Regulation 2
  3. 3Regulation 3
  4. 4Regulation 4
  5. 5Regulation 5
  6. 6Regulation 6
  7. 7Regulation 7
  8. 8Regulation 8
  9. 9Regulation 9
  10. 10Regulation 10
  11. Signature
  12. Explanatory note

1

These Regulations may be cited as the Insurance (Fees) Regulations 2000 and shall come into force on 1st April 2000.

2

The Insurance (Fees) Regulations 1999f1 are hereby revoked.

3

In these Regulations–

  • “the Act” means the Insurance Companies Act 1982;

  • “Community deposit company” means an insurance company (other than a pure reinsurer) whose head office is not in a Member State and which has made a deposit in a Member State other than the United Kingdom in accordance with section 9(1)(c) of the Act as it has effect in pursuance of section 9(2)(b) of the Act;

  • “gross premiums receivable” means the gross amount of premiums receivable required to be included in the documents required to be deposited under section 22(1) of the Act in relation to the financial year to which the documents relate (or, where by reason of an order made under section 68 of the Act such amounts are not required to be included, the amount which would otherwise have been required to be so included) being–

    1. (a)

      in the case of a company (other than a Community deposit company or a Swiss general insurance company) which carries on either long term business or general business but not both, premiums receivable in respect of its global business;

    2. (b)

      in the case of a company (other than a Community deposit company) which carries on both long term business and general business, the sum of premiums receivable in respect of its global long term business and its global general business;

    3. (c)

      in the case of a Community deposit company which carries on either long term business or general business but not both through a branch in the United Kingdom, premiums receivable in respect of its United Kingdom branch business;

    4. (d)

      in the case of a Community deposit company which carries on both long term business and general business through a branch in the United Kingdom, the sum of premiums receivable in respect of its United Kingdom branch long term business and United Kingdom branch general business;

    5. (e)

      in the case of a Swiss general insurance company which carries on general business through a branch in the United Kingdom, premiums receivable in respect of its United Kingdom branch business;

  • “group” means a body corporate together with–

    1. (a)

      all of its wholly-owned subsidiaries;

    2. (b)

      any body corporate of which it is a wholly-owned subsidiary;

    3. (c)

      all bodies corporate which are wholly-owned subsidiaries of any such body corporate as is first mentioned in (b);

  • “pure reinsurer” means an insurance company whose authorisation to carry on business in the United Kingdom is restricted to reinsurance;

  • “wholly-owned subsidiary” has the meaning given to it by section 736(2) of the Companies Act 1985f1;

  • “winding up” includes an analogous procedure under any jurisdiction other than that of any part of the United Kingdom.

4

Subject to regulations 5 to 8, when documents are deposited under section 22(1) of the Act the insurance company concerned shall pay to the Treasury the fee as set out in the table below, according to the amount of its gross premiums receivable for the financial year to which the documents deposited relate–

Gross premiums receivableFee
Up to and including £500,000£350
Over £500,000 up to and including £2,000,000£1,200
Over £2,000,000 up to and including £5,000,000£8,000
Over £5,000,000 up to and including £20,000,000£20,000
Over £20,000,000 up to and including £75,000,000£35,000
Over £75,000,000£48,000

5

These Regulations do not apply in the case of an EC company.

6

(1)

Where the sum of the fees payable under regulation 4 by all the insurance companies within a group would exceed £336,000 the fee in respect of each of those insurance companies shall be abated proportionately so that the sum of the fees payable by those insurance companies is £336,000.

(2)

For the purposes of paragraph (1), an insurance company shall be deemed to be a member of a group at the date upon which it deposits documents in respect of a financial year in accordance with section 22(1) of the Act if it was a member of that group at the end of the financial year to which those documents relate.

7

No fee shall be payable under regulation 4 where, at the date upon which the documents are deposited under section 22(1) of the Act–

(a)

the insurance company is subject to the process of winding up and cannot lawfully effect any contracts of insurance; or

(b)

the insurance company is subject to a direction given under section 11 of the Act or section 11 of the Insurance Companies Act 1981f1, or given under section 12A of the Act and confirmed by the Treasury pursuant to section 12A(6) of the Actf2, that it shall cease to be authorised to effect contracts of insurance (including reinsurance) of all classes for which it had been authorised under section 3 or 4 of the Act or under section 3 or 4 of the said Act of 1981; or

(c)

the insurance company is subject to a restriction imposed under section 68 of the Companies Act 1967f3 or section 13 of the Insurance Companies Amendment Act 1973f4, or imposed or deemed to have been imposed under section 29 of the Insurance Companies Act 1974f5 which, in any of those cases and taking into account the authorisation of the company, has the result that the company is prohibited from effecting any contract of insurance (including reinsurance) in the United Kingdom.

8

These Regulations do not apply when copies of an abstract of an actuary’s report of an investigation made under section 18(1) of the Act are deposited with the Treasury unless the abstract is of a report of an investigation which is required to be made by paragraph (a) of that subsection.

9

Where a statement is deposited under section 86(1) of the Actf1 by the Council of Lloyd’s it shall pay to the Treasury a fee of £240,000.

10

For the purposes of section 94A(6) of the Act, the relevant functions of the Treasury in relation to insurance companies and the members of Lloyd’s are anything done for the purpose of or in connection with–

(a)

sections 11 to 13, Part II, sections 75 and 78, Part IIIA, Part IV and section 94A of the Actf1 including prosecution of offences alleged to have been committed under any of those provisions or under provisions in earlier legislation which are analogous to those provisions;

(b)

section 98 of the Act in respect of the functions set out in paragraph (a);

(c)

proposals for United Kingdom or European Communities legislation relating to insurance companies or the members of Lloyd's.

Signature

Greg Pope

Clive Betts

Two of the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty’s Treasury

8th March 2000

Explanatory note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

1

These Regulations, which come into force on 1st April 2000, revoke the Insurance (Fees) Regulations 1999 and set out the fees to be paid to the Treasury by insurance companies when they deposit their accounts and other documents as required by section 22(1) of the Insurance Companies Act 1982 and by the Council of Lloyd’s when the statement in respect of Lloyd’s is deposited under section 86(1) of that Act.

2

The level of fees for an insurance company is fixed according to the amount of its gross premiums receivable in respect of its global business or, in the case of a Community deposit company, its UK business (aggregating the amount for long term business and general business where both types of business are being carried on), for the financial year to which the annual accounts relate. In the case of a Swiss company (other than a Community deposit company) the level of fees is fixed according to the amount of its global long term business or its UK general business. Where the company is a member of a group there is a limit of £336,000 in respect of the whole group. The Regulations specify that no fee is payable in respect of an EC company or where the company is in the process of being wound up, whether in the United Kingdom or another jurisdiction, or the company is precluded from effecting contracts of insurance in the United Kingdom at the date when the documents are deposited with the Treasury.

3

The amount of gross premiums receivable in respect of general business is the amount required to be included in Column 1, line 11 of Form 11 in Schedule 1 to the Insurance Companies (Accounts and Statements) Regulations 1996 (S.I. 1996/943), and in respect of long term business is the sum of Column 1, lines 19 and 29 of Form 41 in Schedule 3 to those Regulations. If the Treasury have made an order under section 68 of the Insurance Companies Act 1982 so that the gross premiums do not have to be shown in the returns, then the amount of gross premiums receivable is the amount which would be shown had the order not been made.

4

The table below compares the fees set by these Regulations with those payable under the Insurance (Fees) Regulations 1999 (which are revoked by these Regulations).

Gross premiums receivableFee under these RegulationsFee under the 1999 Regulations
Up to and including £500,000£350£300
Over £500,000 up to and including £2,000,000£1,200£1,000
Over £2,000,000 up to and including £5,000,000£8,000£6,500
Over £5,000,000 up to and including £20,000,000£20,000£16,000
Over £20,000,000 up to and including £75,000,000£35,000£27,500
Over £75,000,000£48,000£40,000

The limit on the fees payable by a group is increased from £280,000 to £336,000. The fee payable by the Council of Lloyd’s is increased from £200,000 to £240,000.