Welcome back!
It was great to see most of you at the Commissioners’ Conference.
We’ve had a productive February at the NAIC and I’m proud of what we've accomplished in a short of amount of time. Thank you for your engagement and hard work. Here are some of the highlights for this month, as well as some information about upcoming events.
Commissioners’ Conference
This year’s Commissioners’ Conference took place February 13-15 in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. You can view photos from the event in our online album.
We had a really good turnout of members and senior regulator staff. We discussed and reached consensus on our strategic regulatory priorities for 2020. We also held breakout sessions to hold our initial discussions covering the next iteration of State Ahead, and the priority work streams for our standing committees. You all should have received an email from the NAIC with the notes from these breakout sessions. If you have not already done so, I encourage you to take a few minutes to review these notes. There is a lot of work to be done and I am confident we are up to the task.
Finally, one of the key action items at the Conference was the adoption of the Suitability in Annuity Transactions Model Regulation (#275). The model, when adopted in our states, will give us an additional tool to better protect consumers because the revisions clarify that agents and carriers may not place their financial interest ahead of the consumer’s interest. The model now requires agents and carriers act with “reasonable diligence, care and skill” in making recommendations.
IAIS Committee Meetings
NAIC members and staff continue to take leadership on key issues facing the international insurance community. IAIS parent committees met in Basel, Switzerland February 24-26. Topics discussed included: the monitoring period for the insurance capital standard; the aggregation method and comparability; and implementation of the holistic framework for systemic risk. In addition, the committees approved the 2019 Global Insurance Market Report for publication. They also issued papers about the use of big data analytics in insurance and papers about implementation of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures.
The Regulators Podcast
Now available on Apple Podcasts, The Regulators continues to build its audience. If you have not yet listened to the podcast, you can also tune in on Spotify and Spreaker.
In this month’s episode, NAIC Secretary-Treasurer and Missouri Department of Commerce and Insurance Director, Chlora Lindley-Myers, and NAIC CEO, Mike Consedine, discussed diversity and inclusion in insurance. It’s a great topic and I encourage you all to listen.
Spring National Meeting
We’re getting closer to the Spring National Meeting and I look forward to seeing you all there. The tentative agenda for the meeting, which takes place in Phoenix from March 21-24, is available on the NAIC Meetings & Events page.
I’m especially looking forward to CIPR’s Spring 2020 Program: Roadmap of Current and Emerging Initiatives in International Insurance Supervision. With a panel discussion featuring regulators and industry figures, it’s sure to be an interesting as well as educational discussion.
International Forum
By now, you should have all received an invitation to the NAIC’s 14th annual International Insurance Forum, May 4-5 in Washington, DC. This year’s keynote speaker is Vice Chairman Randal Quarles of the Federal Reserve Board. This event provides an opportunity for regulators, industry representatives and other experts to come together and address issues facing the international regulatory community.
The deadline to register is April 6.
Other News
Our affiliate organization, the National Insurance Producer Registry (NIPR) just unveiled its new website. The website was redesigned to support NIPR’s strategic goal of providing exceptional experience to customers through an intensive focus on quality, simplicity, and consistency.
