Withdrawal of authorisation
12A.—(1)  The Authority may by order, at the request of the insurer or on any of the grounds set out in subsection (2), withdraw the authorisation of any insurer either wholly or in respect of a class of business, as the case may be.
(2)  The grounds referred to in subsection (1) are —
(a)that the insurer has not commenced the business of providing reinsurance of liabilities under insurance policies to persons in Singapore within 12 months after being authorised;
(b)that the insurer has ceased to carry on the business of providing reinsurance of liabilities under insurance policies to persons in Singapore;
(c)that it appears to the Authority that the insurer has failed to satisfy an obligation to which it is subject by virtue of this Act;
(d)that the insurer proposes to make, or has made, whether in Singapore or elsewhere, any composition or arrangement with its creditors or has gone into liquidation or has been wound up or otherwise dissolved;
(e)that a receiver, receiver and manager, judicial manager, or such other person having the powers and duties of a receiver, receiver and manager or judicial manager, has been appointed, whether in Singapore or elsewhere, in relation to, or in respect of any property of, the insurer or any of its shareholders having control of the insurer;
(f)that there is a change of a person having control of the insurer and —
(i)the new person having control of the insurer is not a fit and proper person; or
(ii)the Authority is not satisfied as to the financial standing of the insurer after the change;
(g)that the insurer is carrying on its business in a manner likely to be detrimental to the interests of its policy owners, whether in Singapore or elsewhere;
(h)that the insurer is unable to meet its obligations, whether in Singapore or elsewhere;
(i)that the insurer has contravened any of the provisions of this Act or any condition imposed or direction given by the Authority under this Act;
(j)that any of the officers of the insurer holding a managerial or executive position has been convicted of any offence under this Act;
(k)that the insurer has furnished false, misleading or inaccurate information, or has concealed or failed to disclose material facts in its application for authorisation; or
(l)that it is in the public interest to withdraw the authorisation.
(3)  Before withdrawing the authorisation of an insurer under this section otherwise than at the request of the insurer, the Authority shall —
(a)give the insurer notice in writing of its intention to do so; and
(b)in the notice referred to in paragraph (a), call upon the insurer to show cause within such time as may be specified in the notice why its authorisation should not be withdrawn.
(4)  If the insurer referred to in subsection (3) —
(a)fails to show cause within the time specified in the notice under that subsection or within such extended period of time as the Authority may allow; or
(b)fails to show sufficient cause,
the Authority shall give notice in writing to the insurer of the date on which the withdrawal of authorisation is to take effect.
(5)  Any insurer which is aggrieved by a decision of the Authority under subsection (1) to withdraw its authorisation as an insurer otherwise than at its request may, within 30 days of the decision of the Authority, appeal to the Minister in writing in accordance with Part IIIB.
(6)  Notwithstanding the withdrawal of the authorisation of an insurer under this section, so long as the insurer remains under any liability in respect of insurance policies belonging to the class of insurance business to which the authorisation relates, the insurer shall take such action as it considers necessary or as may be required by the Authority to ensure that reasonable provision has been or will be made for that liability and that adequate arrangements exist or will exist for the payment of premiums and claims on those policies.
(7)  For the purposes of this section —
(a)a person shall be regarded as having control of an authorised reinsurer if the person alone or acting together with any associate or associates would —
(i)acquire or hold, directly or indirectly, 50% or more of the issued share capital of the insurer; or
(ii)control, directly or indirectly, 50% or more of the voting power in the insurer;
(b)a reference to voting power in an authorised reinsurer is a reference to the total number of votes that might be cast in the general meeting of the insurer; and
(c)the following persons are associates of a person:
(i)the person’s spouse or parent or remoter lineal ancestor, son, daughter or remoter issue, brother or sister of the person;
(ii)any partner of the person;
(iii)any corporation of which the person is an officer;
(iv)where the person is a corporation, any officer of the corporation;
(v)any employee or employer of the person;
(vi)any officer of any corporation of which the person is an officer;
(vii)any employee of any individual of whom the person is an employee;
(viii)any corporation whose directors are accustomed or under an obligation, whether formal or informal, to act in accordance with the directions, instructions or wishes of the person or, where the person is a corporation, of the directors of the person;
(ix)any corporation in accordance with the directions, instructions or wishes of which, or the directors of which, the person is accustomed or under an obligation, whether formal or informal, to act;
(x)any corporation in which the person is in a position to control not less than 20% of the voting power in the corporation; and
(xi)where the person is a corporation, a person who is in a position to control not less than 20% of the voting power in the corporation.
[23/2003 wef 01/01/2004]