The past fiscal year saw a boost in mergers and company dissolutions--in all, 28 insurance companies merged, and an additional six insurers dissolved. "But despite the continuing contraction in the number of companies, we achieved positive membership growth?26 new companies joined NAMIC," Mr. Fisher told NAMIC members.

Based in Indianapolis, the NAMIC trade association counts more than 1,300 member companies.

Mr. Fisher said the group had seen some success in lobbying for the use of credit scoring.

On the legislative front, Mr. Fisher noted that the association's regulatory affairs staff played an important role in drafting and securing the approval of a model act on credit-based insurance scoring, through the National Conference of Insurance Legislators.

"Approval of this model language created a valuable buffer to mitigate efforts to completely eliminate the use of insurance scoring," Mr. Fisher explained, pointing out that 38 states debated insurance scoring so far in 2003, with 12 states enacting language "very close to the NAMIC-drafted NCOIL model." He also observed additional states are expected to pass the NCOIL model in 2004.

Additionally, commenting on state regulations, Mr. Fisher recalled that three years ago, the NAMIC board of directors endorsed competitive ratings as "the cornerstone of state regulatory reform."

"This year saw several important steps in that direction," he observed. "NCOIL, the largest organization of state law makers in the United States, adopted a regulation in support of the principle of competition as the best regulator of property-casualty insurance, rather than the heavy and onerous hand of state regulators."

Mr. Fisher argued this development sends "a clear signal" to state lawmakers that government officials establishing the price of p-c products must be changed if the state regulation is to be preserved.

"This resolution," he added, "comes on the heels of major personal lines rate modernization in New Jersey, Louisiana and New Hampshire. And NAMIC was instrumental in securing the approval of the National Council of State Legislatures' resolution and was involved in specific state reforms."

Furthermore, NAMIC also lobbied New York state and collaborated with others in the industry to revise securities rating activities at the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, Mr. Fisher said, arguing that these rating activities have become "increasing irrelevant as a regulatory tool, since private ratings firms widely provide information on securities credit quality."

At the federal level, Mr. Fisher said NAMIC also helped convince the U.S. Treasury Department that requirements for the Patriot Act should not apply to p-c insurance companies. "And the NAMIC federal affairs staff met with the Treasury Department to mitigate the compliance requirements of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act on behalf of p-c companies," he said.

According to NAMIC, its members underwrite 40 percent--or some $123 billion--of the property-casualty insurance premium in the United States.