13. Statutory Financial Information

The Company’s insurance subsidiaries are limited under state insurance laws, in the amount of ordinary dividends they may pay without regulatory approval. As of December 31, 2019, the maximum dividend that can be paid from the Company’s U.S. insurance subsidiaries to the Company without prior approval from the New York State Department of Financial Services is $54.7 million. Factors affecting the ability to pay dividends include levels of investment income in recent years and the Company’s statutory surplus position of the Company. Combined statutory net income and surplus of the Company’s domestic insurance subsidiaries as reported in the Combined Annual Statement were as follows:


($ in thousands)	2019		2018		2017
Combined statutory net income	$	55,681	$	33,147	$	26,303
Combined statutory surplus	$	568,777	$	473,575	$	433,946

The U.S. insurance company subsidiaries file statutory financial statements with each state in the format specified by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (“NAIC”). The NAIC provides accounting guidelines for companies to file statutory financial statements and provides minimum solvency standards for all companies in the form of risk–based capital requirements. The policyholders’ surplus of each of the domestic insurance companies is above the minimum amount required by the NAIC. The actual statutory capital and surplus of the Company’s insurance subsidiaries was significantly above the amount of statutory capital and surplus necessary to satisfy regulatory requirements.