Bisker asserts he respects the work of the NAIC and claims one of the reasons insurers also respect the organization is the NAIC has stayed away from having a few people or states wield too much influence. The thing that works in [the NAICs] favor is it rotates its positions, he says. You dont have people lording their position or having multiple-year terms. If you are going to have something that is acting as a quasi-organization to help all the insurance commissioners do their jobs and act with some semblance or synchronization, its good there is no one person who stays long enough to impact [unduly] the organization. They are all there for the good of the industry.

One of the reasons the federal government is becoming increasingly interested in the insurance industry is technology, according to Bisker. Look at what the Internet can do for us, he says. It is logical you can have capabilities across the states that make sense. Its hard for me to understand the justification people have for why Texas has to be different than Ohio. There may be different hazards, but there is no hazard that is incredibly unique to any one locale.

The government has focused more on the life insurance industry when it comes to regulations such as anti-money laundering rules. There are obvious examples of the danger in selling, say, a single-premium life insurance product, but Bisker believes efforts also need to be focused on the property/casualty side. We know there is fraud in the P&C industry, he says. In the U.S., its something north of $20 billion a year. We have people coming here from foreign countries to perpetuate fraud. At some point, somebody has to recognize this [P&C] type of insurance fraud is a way to create funds, and it could be a way to fund terrorism. It may not be happening yet, but its something somebody should pay attention to.

Bisker does not believe insurers have been overly concerned with the federal regulations even though hefty fines have been issued. To insurers, it is just a compliance issue, he says. I dont think they have paid as much attention as they should. Insurers essentially have been lucky until now, he maintains, asking, Does that mean every carrier is doing its utmost to make sure it is not serving any specially designated nationals? Or is it just the bad guys havent been trying to buy car insurance recently?

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