Michael McRaith, director of the Federal Insurance Office in the Treasury Department, has been named to head the Technical Committee of the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS), the group's influential policy-developing body.
His election took place at a meeting in Singapore last week.
He succeeds Swiss citizen Monica Mächler, who retired.
Amongst other candidates for the post was Kevin McCarty, Florida insurance commissioner and president of the NAIC.
In response, McCarty said, "I congratulate Director McRaith on his appointment as the IAIS Technical Committee chair and I look forward to continuing the work FIO and the NAIC have been doing on this committee as well as the other areas where our regulatory boundaries may cross."
Industry officials say one reason McRaith was selected is that the international players are striving for transparency.
Although U.S. insurance-industry officials have expressed concerns about the scope of global regulatory standards being developed by IAIS, one bright spot in the global talks is that there is some momentum in EU-U.S. dialogue regarding equivalency between the two regulatory systems.
McRaith helped set this positive dialogue in motion, according to officials at the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America.
In a conference call yesterday, PCI officials expressed concerns about the direction of discussions on global-regulatory standards. "What's troubling in recent years is global standards that are set by unelected, unaccountable bodies," said David Sampson, president and CEO of PCI.
Robert Gordon, senior vice president, policy development & research, for PCI said state-insurance regulation "will be graded" on compliance with new, global standards starting in 2014, and he added, "We don't want the U.S. to get outfoxed in these discussions so insurers end up with global, bank-centric rules."
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Elizabeth Festa
Elizabeth Festa is a longtime business and financial services reporter with a specialty in insurance regulatory and legislative coverage at the federal and state level. She is based in Washington, D.C.
