Regulator: Another Data Call Set For Insurers

Regulator: Another Data Call Set For Insurers

The nations insurance regulators will require property-casualty and life insurers to provide another round of market conduct data because they have found it helpful in tracking down potential problems, an official said.

For example, Sue Stead, an Ohio regulator, said the latest data call information that was collected had highlighted six life companies in which data stood out from the results of most companies. Consequently, regulators will be taking a closer look at these companies to find out why they varied from most other insurers, said Ms. Stead, who heads up the market analysis work group at the Kansas City, Mo.-based National Association of Insurance Commissioners.

Because regulators have found the information so valuable, both the life and property-casualty data calls will be repeated, she said. For life insurers, data for calendar year 2003 will be due in April 2004, and for property-casualty insurers, dates are under discussion.

Before a new data call is issued, the initial one should be completed and analyzed, said Don Cleasby, assistant general counsel with the National Association of Independent Insurers, Des Plaines, Ill. Any data call should be prospective and not retroactive, he said. Data collection would become more complicated if data requested is changed from the first round, he added.

Lenore Marema, vice president-legal and regulatory affairs with the Alliance of American Insurers in Downers Grove, Ill., said that the Illinois insurance department, which has collected data, has provided a template for collecting it.

But more generally, she wondered if budget-strapped state departments would have the resources to collect and analyze data.

Separately, the National Conference of Insurance Legislatures in Albany, N.Y., said that an initial draft of a planned market conduct model law could be out for review by Aug. 25. A hearing on the model is planned for Sept. 12 in Chicago, according to Tim Tucker, director of state-federal affairs in NCOIL's Washington office. The model could be ready for adoption by NCOIL at its annual meeting in Santa Fe, N.M., in November, he said.

Jim Connolly is a senior editor with NUs Life-Health edition.

Reproduced from National Underwriter Property & Casualty/Risk & Benefits Management Edition, September 1, 2003. Copyright 2003 by The National Underwriter Company in the serial publication. All rights reserved.Copyright in this article as an independent work may be held by the author.