§6712 Insurance Underwriting in National Banks

Summary

National banks and their subsidiaries are not allowed to act as the main seller of insurance in a State, except when another part of the law allows it or when the product was already authorized by January 1, 1999. A product counts as authorized if, by that date, the Comptroller of the Currency had put in writing that banks could sell it as the main seller or banks were actually doing so, no court later reversed that decision, and the product is not title insurance or an annuity taxed under section 72 of the Internal Revenue Code. "Insurance" here means: (1) any product that a State treated as insurance on January 1, 1999; (2) any product first offered after that date that a State insurance regulator says is insurance because it covers liability, death, health, or property loss (including life, health, title, surety, and property/casualty types); and (3) annuity contracts taxed under section 72. Bank services like deposit accounts, loans, trust services, qualified financial contracts, and financial guaranties are not counted as insurance, unless the product has an insurance piece that tax law would treat as life insurance under section 7702 or would get insurance-company loss treatment under section 832(b)(5) if the bank were taxed as an insurance company under section 831. Providing insurance or reinsurance outside the United States that covers or protects insurance sold in a State is treated as providing insurance in that State.