The debate in Congress over insurance regulation will help spur a "slow and ponderous" National Association of Insurance Commissioners into action to reform the system, according to New York Insurance Superintendent Howard Mills.

"The [federal] threat is a good thing because it will force the NAIC to move with greater dispatch, and if state regulation of insurance is undermined, then it could be seen as the fault of the states," Mr. Mills said at an insurance seminar hosted by the City Bar Center for Continuing Legal Education, attended by regulators from several states.

Maryland Commissioner Steven Orr said that with 23 of the needed 26 states approving an interstate compact dealing with life insurance speed-to-market issues, the NAIC has been taking steps to answer its critics in Washington and among the big companies that 50-state regulation slows the marketplace.