Examination before commencing business

Before granting authority to a company to issue policies or make contracts of insurance, the commissioner shall be satisfied, by such examination and evidence as he sees fit to make and require, that the whole amount of the capital stock set forth in the certificate of incorporation and the required minimum surplus of the company, if a stock company, has been actually paid in cash, and is possessed by the company in money, or in the stocks, bonds, or bonds and mortgages authorized for insurance companies by chapter two (s. 17:2-1 et seq.), and chapter twenty-four (s. 17:24-1 et seq.), of this Title; or, if a mutual company, that it has received and is in possession of the cash premiums, and bona fide engagements for insurance to the extent and of the value hereinbefore required. This section shall not apply to insurance companies incorporated by certificates filed in the department prior to March twenty-seventh, one thousand nine hundred and twenty-eight. In determining the financial condition of any corporation organized under paragraph "h" of section 17:17-1 of this Title, the commissioner shall allow as admitted assets such assets as are authorized in chapters two (s. 17:2-1 et seq.) and twenty-four (s. 17:24-1 et seq.) of this Title, and may allow as an asset on account of the required surplus, the title plant of such company at its fair value as determined by the commissioner, less such charge-offs as he may require. Amended by L.1938, c. 289, p. 623, s. 5.