Ex-NAIC Chief Defends New Industry Role

Some industry-related eyebrows have been raised at his move to resign in the middle of his term as NAIC president to head a group representing companies he regulated, both directly as South Carolina Insurance Commissioner and indirectly in the top NAIC job.

But Mr. Csiszar rejected it out of hand.

"My role as a regulator will have to stand on its own and let history judge," he told the National Underwriter in an interview today, his first after resigning his South Carolina and NAIC posts. "I was chief executive of a property and casualty insurance company before I became a regulator, and clearly I can distinguish between the two roles."

As one of 50 commissioners, Mr. Csiszar was one of the most vocal proponents of personal lines deregulation, even after the topic became somewhat taboo in the aftermath of the 9-11 attacks and the sharp spike in prices that followed. Deregulation remains at the top of a PCI list of goals for the coming year.

Robert Hunter, insurance director for the Consumer Federation of America, said yesterday that Mr. Csiszar's move was an "amazing embarrassment" in that it showed the interlocking ties between the industry and regulators.

Earlier this year, he called for Mr. Csiszar's resignation for pushing his own deregulatory agenda at the expense of general NAIC policy, which takes a more balanced approach to the issue.

Mr. Csiszar said he thought his greatest accomplishment as president was forging close ties with members of Congress, who are bound to take an important role in insurance industry oversight, no matter what scheme is eventually settled upon.

"If I could take any credit, certainly it would be our relationships in Washington and our degree of closeness with certain key people there that I think has been extraordinary," he said.

Mr. Csiszar has been determined that the NAIC play an important role in the so-called federal insurance tools process now underway under the leadership of Representatives Mike Oxley and Richard Baker. To that end, he said he made extra efforts to ensure that a market conduct model bill received both the blessing of the NAIC and the National Conference of Insurance Legislators so that federal lawmakers could see that state forces were united.

He added that his unique experience as a state regulator and NAIC president will help bridge certain gaps between the regulators and PCI, both of whom share the ultimate goal of keeping insurance regulated in the states.