Licensing of insurers
8.—(1)  A person who desires to carry on insurance business in Singapore as an insurer shall —
(a)apply in writing to the Authority for a licence under this section; and
(b)furnish such information as the Authority may require.
(2)  Upon receiving an application under subsection (1), the Authority shall consider the application and may grant a licence to the applicant with or without conditions or refuse to grant a licence.
(3)  The Authority shall not grant a licence to any person unless —
(a)the applicant is a company, a company incorporated outside Singapore which has an established place of business in Singapore, or a co-operative society; and
(b)the applicant satisfies such financial requirements as may be prescribed.
(4)  For the purposes of this section, the Authority may prescribe financial requirements of different forms or amounts for different classes of insurance business and for different types of insurers.
(5)  The Authority may license an insurer as a direct insurer, reinsurer or captive insurer.
(6)  The Authority shall cause notice of the grant of any licence or change of name of a licensed insurer to be published in the Gazette.
(7)  Any applicant which is aggrieved by the refusal of the Authority to grant it a licence under this section may, within 30 days after being informed of the decision of the Authority, appeal to the Minister in writing in accordance with Part IIIB.
(8)  The Authority may at any time add to, vary or revoke any of the existing conditions of the licence of an insurer or impose any condition thereto.
(9)  A licensed insurer shall, at all times during the currency of its licence, satisfy such financial requirements as may be prescribed under subsection (3)(b).
(10)  Any licensed insurer which fails to comply with any condition imposed by the Authority under subsection (2) or (8) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $100,000 and, in the case of a continuing offence, to a further fine not exceeding $10,000 for every day or part thereof during which the offence continues after conviction.
(11)  Any licensed insurer which contravenes subsection (9) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $250,000 and, in the case of a continuing offence, to a further fine not exceeding $25,000 for every day or part thereof during which the offence continues after conviction.
[Act 11 of 2013 wef 18/04/2013]