Life Insurers Want NAIC To Act On Capital Proposal

"If you have essentially written off making changes for 2008 reporting purposes, then why was expedited consideration given to the suggested changes in the first place, and why were at least some of the changes acknowledged to be necessary and appropriate?" Ferguson asks. "More to the point, why even hold the January hearing if timely action is not contemplated?"

Ferguson, on behalf of the ACLI, urges the NAIC to "identify those changes that can be made now and act on them."

One such example, he writes, is a change in the rules governing deferred tax assets.

"This change provides the broadest measure of relief across the entire industry because it is not product specific, and does not carry with it the 'optics' of lowering reserves that appears to be driving your reluctance to move forward with this initiative," Ferguson writes.

Ferguson asks the NAIC to evaluate proposed changes that commissioners cannot agree to support and develop alternatives that can be implemented.

"Put your members on notice that decisions will be made by a time certain, and vote the changes up or vote them down," Ferguson writes.

Sullivan says in a statement that he is confident that the working group's recommendations were completed expeditiously and with thoughtful consideration of that which is in the best interests of consumers and the insurance industry.

"I continue to believe that these are national issues that require a national response, and I am committed to working with my colleagues to resolve this in a manner that's in the best interest of consumers and the industry as a whole," Sullivan says.