The National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies hasbecome a member of the Insurance Research Council, a nonprofitresearch organization, the two groups announced.

Malvern, Pa.-based IRC's membership also includes nine insurancecompanies.

NAMIC, headquartered in Indianapolis, counts more than 1,400property-casualty insurance companies among its membership, thevast majority of which are mutual carriers.

IRC is a public policy research organization. The IRC said itprovides objective analysis on a broad range of issues of interestto insurers, consumers and public policymakers.

Chuck Chamness, NAMIC president and chief executive officer,said: “The IRC has a proven track record in bringing factualinformation to public policy debates on a wide variety of insuranceissues, such as natural catastrophes, auto injury compensation andhighway safety. We look forward to collaborating with the othermembers of the IRC on these and other future issues.”

At IRC, Elizabeth Sprinkel, senior vice president, said hergroup is “thrilled that NAMIC is bringing its knowledge andexpertise in public policy and legislative and regulatory mattersto the IRC. NAMIC's participation will help ensure that IRC'sresearch agenda remains relevant and timely.”

In addition to NAMIC, current members of the IRC include:Allstate Insurance Company, American Family Insurance, FarmersInsurance Group, The Hartford Financial Services Group Inc.,Liberty Mutual Group, Nationwide Insurance Enterprise, SafecoInsurance Services, State Farm Insurance Companies and UnitedServices Automobile Association.

IRC is a division of the American Institute for CPCU and theInsurance Institute of America. IRC is online atwww.ircweb.org.