Eligible Surplus Lines Insurer Standards and the Export List
Eligibility standards
A non-admitted insurer may write Indiana surplus lines business only if it is an eligible surplus lines insurer. Typical statutory criteria: authority to write the class in its domiciliary jurisdiction; maintenance of the minimum capital and surplus the statute requires; good standing and no delinquency or rehabilitation proceeding; a filed consent to service of process and agreement to be examined and to pay Indiana taxes; and, for alien insurers, current listing on the NAIC International Insurers Department (IID) quarterly listing. The commissioner may remove an insurer from eligibility, and placement with a removed insurer is a violation even if the insurer later pays claims.
The export list
The commissioner publishes an export list of classes of business for which the admitted market is presumed unavailable. Business on the list may be exported to an eligible insurer without individual declinations, but the producer still owes disclosure, tax, and filing duties, and still must use an insurer that is eligible at the time of placement. Removal of a class from the list restores the diligent search requirement immediately.
Traps
- Treating "licensed somewhere" or "surplus lines approved in another state" as Indiana eligibility.
- Assuming IID listing is permanent rather than quarterly.
- Using an insurer whose eligibility lapsed mid-term and then arguing the policy was valid at inception.
- Believing eligibility is a solvency guarantee - it is not, and the guaranty fund generally does not respond.
- Exporting a risk that is not actually within a listed class.
Rule of thumb
Ask two questions at bind: Is this class on the export list? and Is this insurer eligible today? A "yes" to the first removes declinations only; a "no" to the second stops the placement entirely.