Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, will replace Sen. Richard Shelby,R-Ala., as ranking minority member of the Senate BankingCommittee—a key Senate oversight panel for the insuranceindustry.

The committee is expected to address insurance issues rangingfrom capital standards, designation of insurers as systemicallysignificant, regulation of insurers that own thrifts, and proposedupgraded standards governing the sale of investment products.

The Senate Banking Committee will also be dealing with theproposed renewal of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act, which expiresDec. 31, 2014.

"Our nation faces critical deadlines for getting our fiscalhouse in order," Crapo said. 

"Congress must focus on the real drivers of our debt anddeficits by enacting real, enforceable spending cuts, structurallyreforming our entitlement programs to prevent impending insolvency,and enacting pro-growth tax reform that will reduce tax rates forAmerican families and businesses, and make the tax code moresimple, efficient and competitive."

A spokesman for Shelby says he is stepping down after servingthe six-year maximum as a ranking member allowed by the RepublicanSenate Conference.

He is the longest-serving current member of the committee,having joined in 1986.

Crapo, 61, has served as a member of the committee since hejoined the Senate in 1999.

A spokesman for Shelby says he would "remain on the panel as itssenior Republican and continue to be involved in committeematters."

An industry source and a Congressional-staff source say thechange had more to do with the decision of Sen. Thad Cochran,R-Miss., ranking Appropriations Committee member, to become theranking member of the Senate Agriculture Committee.

That left an opening for Shelby to take a position where hecould best serve Alabama, the sources said.

 "Sen. Crapo is one of the hardest working andthoughtful members of the Senate," says Jimi Grande, senior vicepresident of federal and political affairs for the NationalAssociation of Mutual Insurance Companies.

Grande says Crapo's vast experience and his commitment to freemarkets and open competition make him an excellent choice to serveas the ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee.

"I look forward to working with him closely in the coming monthsas Congress tackles the reauthorization of TRIA as well as myriadother issues that will be facing NAMIC members in 2013," Grandeadds.

Ray Lehmann, a fellow at the R Street Institute, a think tank,cautioned that it "will be difficult to replace the depth ofknowledge on insurance and financial services issues that Shelbybrought to the committee, but Crapo is a veteran member and hisstaff has always been very interested in ways that market forcescan be used to shape a vibrant, competitive private insurancemarket."