Insurance representatives on December 9 agreed at a Washington conference that the new Federal Insurance Office (FIO) is an "important single point of contact" at the federal level on insurance issues, especially international ones.
But at a conference of "Insurance Regulation in the United States: Modernization and Improvement," insurance representatives sitting on three separate panels failed to provide a consensus on what the role of the FIO should be in insurance regulation, and both praised and criticized state regulation.
The conference was convened by the Treasury Department, and chaired by Michael McRaith, FIO director.
The conference was aimed at gaining industry views in advance of a report on insurance modernization that the Treasury must provide by late January.
McRaith cautioned after the hearing that the FIO will meet the deadline, but that the first report will cover only the most important points.
He said, "we intend to be prolific" by providing reports on relevant issues going forward.
Transparency in financial statements and in dealing with consumers was discussed by a number of those who testified at the hearing, and McRaith indicated that it will be one topic covered in the report that DFA mandates be produced by late January.
At its start, Neil Wolin, deputy Treasury secretary, said that before the Dodd-Frank Act was passed, there was "no institutional capacity to examine insurance at the federal level."
