Federal Chartering Vote Unlikely This Year
Washington
The House Financial Services Committee is unlikely to consider optional federal chartering of insurance companies this year, a senior committee member said.
Rep. Richard Baker, R-La., who chairs the Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance and Government Sponsored Enterprises, reportedly told an industry group that he expects the committee to consider a more incremental approach, but one that deals with industry concerns over speed-to-market and regulatory uniformity.
According to sources attending the meeting, Rep. Baker said that while there will be more hearings on insurance regulation, he does not expect the committee to present a discussion draft of legislation until close to the end of the year.
However, he reportedly said that he believes state insurance commissioners should continue to be the ones on the front lines of insurance regulation and consumer protection, rather than the federal government.
Gary Karr, a representative of the Washington-based American Insurance Association, said AIA still believes that OFC is the best way for consumers to get a fully open and competitive marketplace.
However, he said AIAs policy is that if there is a regulatory reform proposal that is incremental and targeted, but falls short of OFC, AIA will examine it to see whether it removes regulatory barriers so that consumers can have more choices.
The question, he said, is whether government or consumers decide what choices are available in the market.
Reproduced from National Underwriter Property & Casualty/Risk & Benefits Management Edition, February 20, 2004. Copyright 2004 by The National Underwriter Company in the serial publication. All rights reserved.Copyright in this article as an independent work may be held by the author.
Want to continue reading?
Become a Free PropertyCasualty360 Digital Reader
Your access to unlimited PropertyCasualty360 content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking insurance news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Weekly Insurance Speak podcast featuring exclusive interviews with industry leaders
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical converage of the employee benefits and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, BenefitsPRO and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
