NU Online News Service, Dec.7, 2:33 p.m. EST
SAN FRANCISCO–The National Association of Insurance Commissioners should hold fewer non-public meetings and adopt greater transparency and public accountability, according to consumer advocates.
Speaking at the Consumer Liaison Meeting at the NAIC's Winter National Meeting here, Birny Birnbaum, executive director of the Center for Economic Justice in Austin, Texas, said consumer advocates in 2007 and 2008 requested that the NAIC conduct itself in a more transparent manner.
"What we had noted was that the NAIC had started using more and more regulator-to-regulator meetings for things that didn't involve discussions of individual companies or anything else that would have sensitive data," Mr. Birnbaum said.
He added that the discussions were made private "simply to shield the regulator discussions from the public."
As a recent example, Mr. Birnbaum said when life insurers wanted to present their request for capital and surplus relief, the NAIC held a private meeting and then began "a fairly aggressive process" to examine the issue.
Though the concerns had been raised years ago, Mr. Birnbaum said there has been no action to date from the NAIC.
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