Alabama Insurance Commissioner Walter Bell, who leaves hisregulatory post at the end of the month, is taking a job directingregulatory affairs and lobbying regulators for Swiss Re as chairmanof Swiss Re America Holding Corp., the company said.

The firm announced that Mr. Bell, whose appointment is effectiveSept. 2, will provide supervisory governance of the Americasbusinesses for Swiss Re, reporting directly to Swiss Re ChiefExecutive Officer Jacques Aigrain.

The company said further that he will also oversee and directregulatory and public affairs for all of Swiss Re's North Americabusinesses, “helping provide state and federal legislators,regulators and others with the insights they need for effectivepolicy-making.”

Mr. Bell, who has been commissioner since 2003, served asNational Association of Insurance Commissioners president lastyear. In June, he became the first international director of theBermuda Monetary Authority. He currently is on the NAIC ExecutiveCommittee and is chairman of the NAIC International InsuranceRelations Committee.

Mr. Bell is also vice chairman of the International Associationof Insurance Supervisors, Basel, Switzerland, and a limited partnerin the Mobile Bay Bears Baseball Team, an affiliate of the ArizonaDiamondbacks franchise.

Before Mr. Bell joined the Alabama department, he was anexecutive at the MONY Group Inc., a life insurance firm in NewYork, which merged with AXA Financial Inc. a year after he left thefirm.

Mr. Aigrain said the new chairman is an “outstanding addition toour firm, with his notable experience as a regulator and hisleadership roles in the insurance industry.”

Mr. Bell said he looked forward “to collaborating with mycolleagues at Swiss Re and working with government and the privatesector to develop solutions that are at the forefront of insuranceand the broader financial issues we face today.”

Mr. Bell served as chairman of the Diversity Marketing Committeeof the Life Insurance Marketing Research Association (LIMRA) and isa former member of the National Association of Insurance andFinancial Advisors (NAIFA), the Million Dollar Roundtable and theAlabama Association of Life Underwriters. During his sales career,he was a member and past president of the Mobile Association ofLife Underwriters.

Alabama Insurance Department General Counsel Reyn Norman saidMr. Bell would not be able to advocate on behalf of Swiss Re beforethe department for two years.

He said as insurance commissioner Mr. Bell did not “directlyregulate” the insurer.

The Consumer Information Source on the NAIC Web site states thatSwiss Re Life & Health America Inc. is licensed in Alabama aswell as 47 other states.

But Mr. Bell said he is not being employed by that entity butrather by the holding company. He said he will not be dealing withthe Alabama legislature or regulators and will be relocating to NewYork.

When asked about joining Swiss Re, which supports an optionalfederal charter after presiding over the NAIC, which opposes anOFC, Mr. Bell said he will be looking at Swiss Re's positions whenhe assumes his job.

Swiss Re spokesperson Alayna Tagariello said that it waspremature to discuss any potential review or change inpolicies.

This article updated 3:54 p.m.