The financial crisis will affect how insurers will be regulated, one legal expert predicts.
Charles Landgraf, an attorney in the Washington office of Dewey & LeBoeuf L.L.P., tried to map out the possible changes here at an executive conference for the life insurance industry.
The conference, the 19th in an annual series, was sponsored by Dewey & LeBoeuf L.L.P., New York; Ernst & Young L.L.P., New York; and Summit Business Media L.L.C., New York, the parent of National Underwriter.
One point that seems to be clear is that insurance companies that want to participate in the Troubled Asset Relief Program must have a bank or thrift unit or be in the process of applying to become a bank, Landgraf said.
There also are indications that a company that wants to use TARP money to make an acquisition must get permission from the Treasury department, Landgraf added.
It will be interesting to see whether the federal government will use guarantees, in addition to actual cash infusions, to shore up companies in need of capital, Landgraf said.
