by: BestWire Services
published: Oct 22, 2008
As the American Council of Life Insurers pushes for a federal insurance regulator, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners remains steadfastly opposed despite its support for a federal Office of Insurance Information, according to the insurance commissioner of Wisconsin.
When it comes to an optional federal charter, the NAIC is ''very much opposed,'' said Commissioner Sean Dilweg.
When looking at the near-collapse of American International Group Inc., what survived were its insurance businesses, he said. ''That shows you just how strong state regulation is as it relates to the insurance side,'' said Dilweg, who met with BestWire at the ACLI''s annual conference in Boston.
What got AIG into trouble were the credit default swaps within its financial-services business, he said.
The NAIC is concerned about a centralized federal regulator because that ''pulls them away from consumers, who are first and foremost,'' said Dilweg, who serves as vice chairman of the NAIC's life insurance and annuities committee.
''I look at the history of federal regulation as it relates to the savings-and-loan crisis, and frankly, as it relates to this crisis, and it's somewhat absent, he said.
Federal legislation proposing a federal Office of Insurance Information within the Treasury Department cleared a House subcommittee earlier this year, but became stalled on the House floor in the wake of the Federal Reserve's $85 billion loan package to AIG (BestWire, Oct. 17, 2008).
Copyright: A.M. Best Company, Inc.
Source: BestWire Services
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