Lawmakers and industry andgovernment officials are pushing for a robust role abroad for theU.S. Federal Insurance Office (FIO) to increase internationalcompetitiveness for the U.S. insurance industry.

In a May 17 hearing before the Insurance, Housing and CommunityOpportunity Subcommittee of the House Financial ServicesCommittee, chaired by Rep. Judy Biggert, R-Ill., insurers,regulators and consumer advocates were united in emphasizing a needto work together to create clarity and consistency so insurers canexpand their markets abroad.

Insurance executives implored Congress, FIO, the office of theUnited States Trade Representative (USTR) and other officials toemphasize the need to resolve conflicts over trade, transparency,capital standards, conflicting regulatory standards, and othersupervisory and free-market concerns.

The force and promise of FIO were repeatedly trumpeted intestimony, with a chorus of support for FIO's role internationallyand even domestically from all quarters.

“FIO can be of particular help in ensuring the USTR's success byusing its bully pulpit to advance the interests of the U.S.insurance sector and by coordinating efforts to resolve anyconflicts between the federal government and states overinsurance,” the Council of Insurance Agents and Brokers said in astatement.

“The hearing helped assure that insurance issues have a highplace on the U.S. international-engagement agenda and put Congresson the field of play in representing U.S. interests, along withFIO, USTR, other federal agencies and the NAIC,” says David Snyder,vice president of the American Insurance Association.

Lawmakers and insurers seemed troubled by the potentialtreatment of insurers by regulators under a bank-centric model withFederal Reserve supervision.

“When a traditional insurance business fails, not every carowner is going to get into a car accident immediately upondissolving,” FIO Director Michael McRaith told the panel.