The Company’s insurance subsidiaries file financial statements prepared in accordance with statutory accounting principles prescribed or permitted by the insurance regulatory authorities of the states in which the subsidiaries are domiciled. Statutory-basis shareholders’ capital and surplus at December 31, 2018, 2017 and 2016 of the directly owned insurance subsidiary, AIIC, and the combined statutory-basis net income and realized investment gains for all AMERISAFE’s insurance subsidiaries for the three years in the period ended December 31, 2018, were as follows (in thousands):

	2018			2017			2016
Capital and surplus	$	383,575		$	382,062		$	394,016
Net income		72,979			61,628			79,858
Net realized losses on investments		(1,536	)		(647	)		(504	)

Property and casualty insurance companies are subject to certain risk-based capital requirements, or RBC requirements, specified by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. Under these requirements, a target minimum amount of capital and surplus maintained by a property/casualty insurance company is determined based on the various risk factors related to it. At December 31, 2018, the capital and surplus of AIIC and its subsidiaries exceeded the minimum RBC requirement.

Pursuant to regulatory requirements, AIIC cannot pay dividends to the Company in excess of the greater of 10% of statutory surplus, or statutory net income, excluding realized investment gains, for the preceding 12-month period, without the prior approval of the Nebraska Director of Insurance. However, for purposes of this dividend calculation, net income from the previous two calendar years may be carried forward to the extent that it has not already been paid out as dividends. AIIC paid $65.4 million in dividends to the Company in 2018, $78.9 million in 2017 and $67.0 million in 2016. Based upon the dividend limitation described above, AIIC could pay to the Company dividends of up to $71.0 million in 2019 without seeking regulatory approval.