Gauging the Potential for Insurance Industry Investments in Social Infrastructure and Community Development Initiatives – an Industry and Regulatory Initial Dialogue
Please plan to join the NAIC Center for Insurance Policy and Research (CIPR) for its upcoming session. Insurance companies have long been a significant presence in physical infrastructure financing, with our recent estimate of total U.S. insurance industry exposure to economic infrastructure investments to be roughly $566 billion. Although insurers have been increasingly investing in infrastructurebacked financial assets, we found in our recent research report, Can Insurance Companies Help Fill the Infrastructure Gap? (Czajkowski et al., 2021, NAIC), that insurers could potentially assist in closing the infrastructure investment gap, but only if these infrastructure investments meet financial performance expectations and regulatory requirements. However, our definition and analysis of insurers’ infrastructure investments excluded social infrastructure. Social infrastructure includes tangible community development activities, which are vital for all communities but critical for low- and moderate-income communities. Issues of affordable housing and community resilience to natural catastrophes are particularly significant in this regard.
In an effort to expand our existing infrastructure research, this session will begin a social infrastructure investment dialogue between industry and regulators, aiming to highlight industry’s current appetite and approach to social infrastructure investments, as well as how insurance regulators are currently and/or should be thinking through these types of social infrastructure investments from a regulatory solvency perspective. The program is scheduled for Wednesday, Aug. 10, 12:00 – 12:50 p.m. PT.
About the National Association of Insurance Commissioners
As part of our state-based system of insurance regulation in the United States, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) provides expertise, data, and analysis for insurance commissioners to effectively regulate the industry and protect consumers. The U.S. standard-setting organization is governed by the chief insurance regulators from the 50 states, the District of Columbia and five U.S. territories. Through the NAIC, state insurance regulators establish standards and best practices, conduct peer reviews, and coordinate regulatory oversight. NAIC staff supports these efforts and represents the collective views of state regulators domestically and internationally.