Portfolio transfers; conversions

(1) Every contract by which an insurance portfolio of a domestic reinsurance undertaking is to be transferred, wholly or in part, to another insurance undertaking with its registered office in a member state or contracting state requires the approval of the Federal Institute. The portfolio transfer agreement requires written form; section 311b(3) of the Civil Code does not apply. Approval is granted where a certificate from the competent authority of the member state or contracting state proves that the transferee undertaking, having regard to the transfer, holds eligible own funds sufficient to comply with the Solvency Capital Requirement. The rights and obligations of the transferring undertaking arising from the reinsurance contracts pass to the transferee undertaking upon the portfolio transfer, including in relation to the ceding insurers; section 415 of the Civil Code does not apply. Approval of the portfolio transfer must be published in the Federal Gazette. As soon as the portfolio transfer has taken effect, the transferee insurance undertaking must inform the ceding insurers of the portfolio transfer without delay, in writing or electronically.
(2) The complete or partial transfer of an insurance portfolio by a domestic reinsurance undertaking to a branch of a third-country insurance undertaking requires the approval of the Federal Institute. Approval may be granted only where the transferee third-country branch demonstrates that, after the transfer, it holds eligible own funds sufficient to comply with the Solvency Capital Requirement. Where the capital resources of the third-country branch are supervised by the supervisory authority of another member state or contracting state, the evidence must be provided by a certificate from the competent authority of that other member state or contracting state. Subsection (1), second and fourth to sixth sentences, applies correspondingly.
(3) Every conversion of a reinsurance undertaking under sections 1, 305, 320, and 333 of the Reorganisation Act, in which reinsurance contracts belong to the assets covered by the conversion, requires the approval of the supervisory authority. Subsection (1), third and fourth sentences, applies correspondingly. Approval may also be refused where the provisions on the conversion have not been complied with. The intention to convert a reinsurance undertaking under sections 1, 305, 320, and 333 of the Reorganisation Act, insofar as it is not subject to the approval requirement under the first sentence, must be notified to the supervisory authority without delay.
(4) Section 14(1), third sentence, applies to conversions of reinsurance undertakings under sections 305, 320, and 333 of the Reorganisation Act.