by: Keith L. Martin

In a statement issued June 15, the American Council of Life Insurers, the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors, the National Association of Independent Life Brokerage Agencies, the Life Insurers Council and the National Fraternal Congress Association issued a joint statement in support of an optional federal charter.

The statement says that life insurance carriers ''of all sizes and structures'' are united in the cause for several reasons, including the reduction of regulatory inefficiencies, streamlining consumer protections for life insurance products sold through a national insurers, and creating more efficient rules and licensing requirements for nationally licensed agents.

The statement reminds those on Capitol Hill that 75 million American families, nearly 70% of all households, depend on life insurance industry products to protect their financial and retirement security.

''We play a crucial and growing role in the stability and strength of the American economy and remain committed to the financial protection and retirement security of millions of American families,'' the statement concludes.

The day after the statement was issued, Patrick S. Baird, ACLI chairman, testified in a hearing on systemic risk and insurance before the House Financial Services Committee's Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance and Government Sponsored Enterprises.

Baird again echoed the call for a federal regulator for the life insurance industry.

''Absent a federal insurance regulatory agency, there will be no federal agency with the necessary expertise on insurance to either advise Congress on relevant policy matters or to implement policy with respect to life insurance companies,'' Baird said, according to a transcript of his testimony. ''Understanding and implementing critical federal policy solely through reliance on hoped for cooperation on the part of 51 state regulators rather than through enforceable federal statute is not a model Congress should embrace.''

Both the hearing and statement came prior to he unveiling of President Barack Obama's proposal to overhaul the nation's financial system, including his plan for a national insurance office within the U.S. Treasury.

Obama's plan did not rule out the creation of a federal charter as one option to increased national uniformity of insurance regulation, with ''effective action by the states'' being another mechanism for change.