As new compliance laws place increasing demands on insurance companies, information technology managers are playing a higher-profile role in meeting regulators' calls for more data, a panel of industry experts here said.

Speakers at last month's ACORD LOMA Insurance Systems Forum discussed insurers' increasing reliance on quality data as they maintain compliance with the myriad of state and federal regulations during a session titled, "Why IT Leaders Need To Care About Regulatory Compliance."

Among the more prominent, and expensive, regulatory structures to stir debate within companies is the cost of compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which was enacted to increase the accountability of senior company officers in financial reporting to regulatory agencies.