Section Ins 51.55 - Confidentiality; prohibition on announcements, prohibition on use in ratemaking(1) Except as permitted under sub. (2) the commissioner shall keep all of the following information confidential and it may not be subject to subpoena: (a) Risk based capital reports, to the extent the information is not required to be set forth in a publicly available annual statement schedule.(b) Risk based capital plans, including the results or report of any examination or analysis of an insurer performed under this chapter.(c) Any corrective order issued by the commissioner pursuant to examination or analysis, with respect to any domestic insurer or foreign insurer, which is issued under s. 645.21, Stats.(2) The information described under sub. (1) is information that is obtained by the commissioner under ss. 601.465 and 645.24, Stats., and shall be retained as confidential under those statutes. This information is not subject to subpoena. The commissioner may disclose the information only for the purpose of enforcement actions taken by the commissioner under chs. 600 to 655, Stats. (3)(a) Except as otherwise required under the provisions of this chapter, no insurer, agent, broker or other person engaged in any manner in the insurance business may make, publish, disseminate, circulate or place before the public, or cause, directly or indirectly to be made, published, disseminated, circulated or placed before the public, in a newspaper, magazine or other publication, or in the form of a notice, circular, pamphlet, letter or poster, or over any radio or television station, or in any other way, an advertisement, announcement or statement containing an assertion, representation or statement with regard to the risk based capital levels of any insurer, or of any component derived in the calculation of risk based capital levels. Any such representation is misleading.(b) If any materially false statement with respect to the comparison regarding an insurer's total adjusted capital to its risk based capital levels or an inappropriate comparison of any other amount to an insurer's risk based capital levels is published in any written publication and the insurer is able to demonstrate to the commissioner with substantial proof the falsity of such statement, or the inappropriateness, as the case may be, then the insurer may publish an announcement in a written publication if the sole purpose of the announcement is to rebut the materially false statement.(4) The commissioner shall principally use risk based capital instructions, risk based capital reports, adjusted risk based capital reports, risk based capital plans and revised risk based capital plans as one method for monitoring the solvency of insurers and to assist in determining the need for corrective action with respect to insurers. The commissioner may not use these instructions, reports or plans for ratemaking nor as evidence in any rate proceeding nor used by the commissioner to calculate or derive any elements of an appropriate premium level or rate of return for any line of insurance which an insurer or any affiliate is authorized to write. The commissioner finds that the comparison of an insurer's total adjusted capital to any of its risk based capital levels is a regulatory tool which may indicate the need for possible corrective action with respect to the insurer, and is not intended as a means to rank insurers generally.Wis. Admin. Code Office of the Commissioner of Insurance Ins 51.55
Cr. Register, December, 1996, No. 492, eff. 1-1-97.