Every company that is, on the 26th day of July 1974, carrying on in New Zealand the business of insurance upon human life or the grant of annuities, or of reinsurance in respect of policies of insurance upon human life or the grant of annuities, shall, unless the company sooner ceases to carry on that business, deposit with the Public Trustee, by the respective dates shown in the first column of the table set out in the Twenty-First Schedule to this Act, approved securities of an aggregate value equal to a sum which, when added to the aggregate value of any money and approved securities previously deposited by that company and not withdrawn, totals not less than the amount shown in the second column of that table:

“Provided that in any case where the Minister is satisfied that, having regard to the financial position of the company, and to the interests of the policyholders, he would be justified in doing so, he may, by notice in writing to the company, defer for any period not exceeding 5 years the date by which any sum specified in the table, or any part of any such sum, is to be deposited.

Every company that proposes to commence after the 26th day of July 1974, to carry on in New Zealand the business of insurance upon human life or the grant of annuities, or of reinsurance in respect of policies of insurance upon human life or the grant of annuities, shall, before commencing to carry on that business, deposit with the Public Trustee approved securities of an aggregate value of not less than $500,000.

For the purposes of this section, the term ‘approved securities’ means—

All deposits lawfully made by any company before the commencement of this subsection shall be deemed to be approved securities, and to have been lawfully made under this section.”

If any securities deposited under this Act with the Public Trustee are, while so deposited, lost, stolen, destroyed, or damaged, any loss suffered by the company making the deposit, or by any other person, shall be made good out of money to be appropriated for the purpose by Parliament.”

If the Public Trustee is satisfied that by reason of depreciation in the value of securities or other cause the value of the approved securities together with the money (if any) deposited by any company under this Act falls short of the amount required by this Act, he may by notice in writing served on the company require the company to deposit with the Public Trustee, within such time as he may specify in the notice, approved securities to a value deemed by the Public Trustee to be sufficient to bring the amount of the deposit to the value required by this Act.

The Public Trustee shall not issue a notice under this section until he has given an opportunity to the company to be heard in connection with the matter.

If any company fails to deposit with the Public Trustee approved securities as required by the Public Trustee in any notice served under this section, that failure shall be deemed—

The Public Trustee shall be entitled to such reasonable remuneration from any depositor as the Public Trustee may determine, or (if the depositor does not accept the Public Trustee’s determination) as the Minister of Finance may determine, for the Public Trustee’s services in respect of any approved securities deposited by any person (whether before or after the passing of this Act) under any of the provisions of this Act or of any enactment consolidated by this Act:

“Provided that the Public Trustee shall not be entitled under this section to remuneration for any services performed by him before the commencement of this section.”

Every company shall, once in every year, cause an investigation to be made into its financial condition by an actuary, and shall cause an abstract of the actuary’s report to be made in the form prescribed in the Sixth Schedule hereto.

Notwithstanding anything in subsection (1) of this section, in any case where the Minister is satisfied that, having regard to the financial position of the company, and to the interests of the company’s policyholders, it is not neces-sary to require a company to comply with the requirements of that subsection, he may, by notice in the Gazette, exempt that company from those requirements:

“Provided that an exemption granted to a company under this subsection shall not release the company from, or in any way limit or affect, any obligation imposed on it by the instrument constituting the company, or by its regulations or bylaws.

A company that is, for the time being, exempt from the requirements of subsection (1) of this section shall, notwithstanding that it is so exempt, once in every 5 years, or at such shorter intervals (being of not less than 12 months) as the Minister may from time to time require, cause an investigation to be made into its financial condition by an actuary, and shall cause an abstract of the actuary’s report to be made in the form prescribed in the Sixth Schedule hereto.

Where the Minister has exempted any company under subsection (2) of this section, he may at any time thereafter, by notice in the Gazette, revoke that exemption if, having regard to the matters referred to in that subsection, he is of the opinion that he should do so.”

Each statement or abstract required under any of the foregoing provisions of this Act shall be made in writing and signed by the principal officer of the company managing the life insurance business in New Zealand, and shall be deposited, together with 2 copies thereof, with the Secretary for Justice within 9 months after the date prescribed by this Act as the date at which it is to be prepared.

On receiving any such statement or abstract the Secretary for Justice may, by notice in writing served on the company depositing the statement or abstract, require that company, within such period (being not less than 14 days after the date of service) or extended period as he may allow, to supply him with such explanation of, or such further information relating to, the subject-matter of the statement or abstract as he may consider necessary for the purposes of this Act.”

The Minister, on application by or with the consent of a company, may alter the form in the Twentieth Schedule to this Act for the purposes of adapting it to the circumstances of the company, or for the better carrying into effect of the objects of this Act.”

On receiving any statement required by section 78 or section 79 of this Act the Secretary for Justice may, by notice in writing served on the company depositing the statement, require that company, within such period (being not less than 14 days after the date of service) or extended period as he may allow, to supply him with such explanation of, or such further information relating to, the subject-matter of the statement as he may consider necessary for the purposes of this Act.”