State lawmakers and insurance regulators say federal regulators should focus on doing a better job rather than on expanding their jurisdiction to include the insurance industry.
The lawmakers and regulators are here for the fall meeting of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, Kansas City, Mo.
They were responding to comments that U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson made Sunday on "Meet the Press."
Pauslon indicated that the problems at American International Group Inc., New York, are at least partly the result of the current fragmentation of the U.S. financial services regulation system.
Paulson argued that the AIG problems show why the United States needs to have an optional federal charter system that would give insurers a chance to be federally regulated.
North Dakota state Rep. George Keiser, R-Bismarck, N.D., secretary of the National Conference of Insurance Legislators, Troy, N.Y., said here at the NAIC meeting that AIG's problems were at its investment subsidiaries, not its insurance subsidiaries.
"The U.S. is the best insurance market worldwide and offers the best protection for consumers worldwide," Keiser said.
