Mr. Mirel added that the department also will be hiring a new public affairs director before he steps down. "We've made the offer and we're hoping to hear back from her today," he said. He said the department wanted to better publicize "what a good jurisdiction the district is."

He added: "My view is that this is the capital of the United States and we ought to act like it. Why should London be out there by itself? We ought to give them a run for their money."

Mr. Mirel has sought to promote the District of Columbia as a major financial center, along the lines of other national capital cities such as London, Paris and Tokyo.

As part of that effort he worked with the mayor and the D.C. Council to create a captive insurance program that has resulted in more than 50 captive insurance companies choosing to locate in the District of Columbia, according to the department.

He also modernized the department to include state-of-the-art electronic processing of licenses for insurance companies, agents and brokers, securities brokers, mortgage lenders, and the other financial services regulated by the department.

Mr. Mirel, who will join the Washington, D.C. law firm of Wiley Rein and Fielding, LLP, said that although he would "like to stay in this job forever, it doesn't work that way." He explained that, "I'm a political appointee, and the person who appointed me is probably not going to run again, so I really have to look out for the future."

Mr. Mirel was appointed commissioner by Mayor Anthony A. Williams in July 1999. He served as commissioner for more than six years.

As commissioner he was instrumental in introducing a new "wild card" captive law similar to a banking law that considers arrangements honored in other captive domiciles and gives the insurance commissioner final say.

That law "certainly attracts a lot of attention," he said. "Whether that is the definitive reason why people come here is hard to tell. Nobody has come to us and said we would like to do something that can be done in the Caymans, but they know that they can."

Mr. Mirel has been active in the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), where he chaired the Industry Liaison Committee, the International Regulatory Cooperation Working Group, and the Class Action Litigation Working Group, among other assignments.