Expand Broker Law, Consumers Urge NAIC

By Steve Tuckey

NU Online News Service, Dec. 20, 4:16 p.m. EDT?Regulators facing agent and other industry group criticism for drafting a too-sweeping broker fee model disclosure act are now being pressured by consumer groups who want wide-ranging disclosure language.[@@]

Birny Birnbaum, a former Texas regulator and currently executive director for the Austin-based Center for Economic Justice, said "the latest proposal does nothing to promote transparency in insurance markets or to target industry structures that fostered a climate conducive to bid-rigging."

Members of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners are threading a fine line attempting to require fee disclosure for larger brokers accused of involvement in bid-rigging, without encompassing all of the nation's independent insurance agents. But finding that dividing line has been challenging.

Mr. Birnbaum called the proposed model "a Christmas tree of exemptions and carve outs for various insurers and producer interests."

"The NAIC members have turned a blind eye to the abusive personal lines compensation issues which CEJ presented to the NAIC earlier this month."

In a similar vein, Robert Hunter, director of insurance for the Consumer Federation of America, has urged a much more extensive review of the whole system of insurance compensation stemming from the investigations of New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, who has accused Marsh brokerage of accepting incentive fees and commissions that disguised payoffs from insurers who were part of a commercial insurance bid-rigging scheme.

Mr. Hunter said that a very strong case could be made for banning the contingency commissions, as proposed by the Risk Insurance and Management Society last month.

"We believe that disclosure may work for sophisticated buyers who got ripped off by Marsh, but less sophisticated [buyers] might not understand it," he said.

A final vote by the full NAIC body is set for Dec. 29.

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Expand Broker Law, Consumers Urge NAIC

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