Washington--A large number of financial services companies,including AIG, Allstate, Allianz and Chubb, are signing up tosupport legislation that would create an optional federalcharter.

The group is led by the American Bankers Insurance Association.It is meeting with financial services companies throughout thecountry to seek support for a letter they plan to send to theleadership of the Senate Banking Committee.

Other members include the American Insurance Association, theCouncil of Insurance Agents and Brokers, the American Council ofLife Insurers, and the Financial Services Roundtable.

The letter they are signing would be sent to the leadership ofthe Senate Banking Committee, however, not the House FinancialServices Committee, even though the House panel is much fartheralong in dealing with insurance regulation modernizationlegislation than is the Senate panel.

In fact, the House panel's staffers and leadership are meetingwith a number of different groups to solicit their views on theshape of financial services legislation.

Introduction of legislation that would create federal standardsfor state insurance regulation, a moderate step in federalinvolvement, is expected in July. Action within the committee onsuch legislation is now expected in the fall, according toinsurance industry lobbyists.

The signatories for the letter to be sent to the leadership ofthe Senate panel are being solicited by a group known as theOptional Federal Charter Coalition. Its latest initiatives includecreating a group of life insurance agents who are voicing supportfor a federal charter, as well as soliciting signatures fromfinancial services companies and state banking associations.

A copy of the letter, obtained by National Underwriter, is datedJune 3. It would be sent to Sens. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., and PaulSarbanes, D-Md., chairman and ranking minority member of thecommittee, according to the letter.

Kevin McKechnie, director of government relations for the ABIAand its associate director, confirmed that companies are beingasked to sign the letter. But, he noted, "It hasn't gone, and itmay not go." He added that it is "one of our ideas in draftform."

The letter says that, "Consumers, and the insurers and insuranceagents that serve them, need a modern insurance regulatory systemthat provides a greater product choice and portability, takes intoconsideration the demands of both the national and regionalinsurance marketplaces, and creates a national insurance regulatorin Washington to address the growing list of national andinternational issues facing our industry."

The letter adds, "Accordingly, we are writing to urge you tostudy the problems with the current state-based regulatory systemand to consider an Optional Federal Charter as an appropriatesolution."

The two-page letter says, "Establishing an Optional FederalCharter would not supplant state regulation; it would simplyprovide an alternative to it."

Other signers of the letter include the Prudential, NorthwesternMutual and New York Life.

The list includes Aegon, Axa, Assurant, Bankers Fidelity Life,Citigroup, Golden Rule, Great-Western Life, Lincoln, ManulifeFinancial, and its U.S. subsidiary, John Hancock, Phoenix Life, ThePrincipal, National Life insurance co., OMNIA Ltd. (Bermuda),Pacific Life, Protective Life, Reliance Standard Life, S&TInsurance Group and Securian.

Other marquee financial services firms that signed on to theletter so far include American Express, Bank of America, BB&T,Citigroup, Comerica, HSBC NA, Hibernia National Bank, J.P. MorganChase, Keycorp, MBNA and Mellon Financial.