NY's DFS appoints new deputy superintendent for insurance

New York’s Department of Financial Services, under newly confirmed Superintendent Linda Lacewell, continued to fill out its executive team with a series of new appointments announced last Tuesday.

The agency’s Consumer Assistance Unit, separately, will now operate under the newly formed Consumer Protection and Financial Enforcement Division, DFS said.

James Regalbuto will be the new deputy superintendent for insurance at DFS, which reports to the executive deputy superintendent for insurance. He worked for two different New York-based insurers and was licensed as an insurance agent before first joining DFS in 2015.

Before Tuesday’s appointment, Regalbuto was the deputy superintendent for life insurance at DFS. He oversaw the regulation of the industry in New York, which includes more than 190 licensed life insurers, 12 retirement systems, 350 charitable annuity societies, and 23 life settlement providers, according to DFS.

He was also involved in crafting policy for the agency, including a first-in-the-nation guidance with respect to the use of Big Data and algorithmic underwriting in life insurance. DFS sent a letter to insurers earlier this year advising them that external consumer data and information sources could not be used when underwriting life insurance.

In his new role, Regalbuto will help manage the insurance division, expanding from his previous focus on life insurance. The role will monitor new technologies and other matters of significant public concern related to insurance, according to DFS. Regalbuto is not an attorney.

Steven Kluger, who was at one time the president and CEO of GE Capital Markets Services, was appointed as the new executive deputy superintendent for capital markets. The position, which reports directly to Lacewell, oversees the capital markets division of the agency.

Kluger, who is not an attorney, will be responsible for monitoring emerging risks and trends, enterprise risk management, regulatory accounting and all other matters related to capital markets.

He was most recently a senior leader and adviser for several large private-equity firms, according to DFS, including Aquiline Capital Partners, MSD Capital and others. He was also retained in recent years by Ontario Teachers Private Pension, where he was CFO of its portfolio company.

Aside from his other role with GE, Kluger was also a vice president of the company and a member of its strategic planning team. He was also part of the International Monetary Fund’s capital markets consultative group, which was formed for crisis prevention after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Kluger spent two decades with GE before leaving the company in 2007. He’s a graduate of Vassar College and New York University.

Alice Wang McKenney, an attorney, will be the new deputy chief of the agency’s Health Bureau. She was most recently a fellow with DFS, where she focused on health initiatives. She worked on the agency’s recent regulations mandating health coverage for in vitro fertilization, or IVF, for example.

She was previously a vice president of the Private Wealth Global Management team and Goldman Sachs, according to DFS. The position required McKenney to partner with internal groups across Goldman’s international footprint, like Investment Strategy Group and others. She was also a senior analyst at Goldman.

Lacewell, in a statement, welcome the trio to the agency’s executive team.

“With their invaluable government and industry experience Steven, James and Alice will strengthen the executive team at DFS,” Lacewell said. “I am pleased to work with our new team members to serve the public, accomplish the mission and goals of the Department, and continue to move New York financial services regulation forward.”

They’re among several others whom Lacewell has already named to her executive team in recent months. That’s included a new executive deputy superintendent for consumer protection, who now leads the agency’s newly formed consumer protection and financial enforcement division.

Lacewell has been at the head of the agency since February but was recently confirmed to the post by state lawmakers last month.

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This article first published on Law.com, a sister publication of PropertyCasualty360.