S.C. Code Ann. § 38-90-80 – Inspections and examinations; confidentiality of reports; limitations applicable to branch captive insurance companies; application of general provisions

(A) At least once in three years, and whenever the director determines it to be prudent, the director personally, or by a competent person appointed by the director, shall visit each captive insurance company and thoroughly inspect and examine its affairs to ascertain its financial condition, its ability to fulfill its obligations, and whether it has complied with this chapter. The director upon application, in his discretion, may enlarge the three-year period to five years, if a captive insurance company is subject to a comprehensive annual audit during that period of a scope satisfactory to the director by independent auditors approved by the director. The expenses and charges of the examination must be paid to the State by the company or companies examined and the department shall issue its warrants for the proper charges incurred in all examinations.
(B) All examination reports, preliminary examination reports or results, working papers, recorded information, documents and copies of documents produced by, obtained by, or disclosed to the director or any other person in the course of an examination made under this section are confidential and are not subject to subpoena and may not be made public by the director or an employee or agent of the director without the prior written consent of the company, except to the extent provided in this subsection.
1. (1) Nothing in this subsection prevents the director from using this information in furtherance of the director's regulatory authority under this title.
2. (2) The director may grant access to this information to public officers having jurisdiction over the regulation of insurance in any other state or country, or to law enforcement officers of this State or any other state or agency of the federal government at any time, so long as the officers receiving the information agree in writing to hold it in a manner consistent with this section.
3. (3) The confidentiality provisions of this subsection do not extend to final reports produced by the director in inspecting or examining a captive insurance company formed as a Risk Retention Group under the Product Liability Risk Retention Act of 1986, 15 U.S.C. Section 3901, et seq., as amended.
(C)
1. (1) This section applies to all business written by a captive insurance company; however, the examination for a branch captive insurance company must be of branch business and branch operations only, as long as the branch captive insurance company provides annually to the director, a certificate of compliance, or its equivalent, issued by or filed with the licensing authority of the jurisdiction in which the branch captive insurance company is formed and demonstrates to the director's satisfaction that it is operating in sound financial condition in accordance with all applicable laws and regulations of that jurisdiction.
2. (2) As a condition of licensure, the alien captive insurance company shall grant authority to the director for examination of the affairs of the alien captive insurance company in the jurisdiction in which the alien captive insurance company is formed.
(D) To the extent that the provisions of Chapter 13 do not contradict the provisions of this section, Chapter 13 applies to captive insurance companies licensed under this chapter.