Csiszar Leaves Regulation To Head Up PCI

Csiszar Leaves Regulation To Head Up PCI Move by NAIC president to lead insurer lobby group knocked by consumer gadfly

It isnt the first time a top state insurance regulator has left his post to work in the industry he used to oversee, and it wont be the last.

Still, the decision by South Carolina Insurance Commissioner Ernie Csiszar to head up the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America generated more than its share of controversy because Mr. Csiszar also happened to be serving as president of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners at the time of his hiring by PCI.

The association itself made news at the start of the year with its creationthe result of a long-negotiated merger between the National Association of Independent Insurers and the Alliance of American Insurers. The joint group says it now represents over 1,000 carriers writing 39.1 percent of the nations auto, homeowners, business and workers compensation insurance.

Two industry giants in their own right who led the merging associations retired in OctoberJack Ramirez (former NAII president, who stayed on during the transition as president and CEO of PCI), and Rodger Lawson (former president of the Alliance, who stayed on as PCIs executive vice president).

However, the biggest headlines went to the appointment of Mr. Csiszar to replace Mr. Ramirez at PCI, with critics raising the potential conflicts created by the so-called “revolving door,” in which people work in the industry, move into regulation of the business, then return to work at an insurer after a few years.

Consumer groups had already knocked heads with Mr. Csiszar when he was NAIC president over his views on deregulation and federal oversight, but they howled loudest when he abruptly returned to lead one of the industrys biggest lobbying groups in the middle of his term as the nations most visible state regulator. Before his regulatory work, he had been president and CEO of Seibels Bruce Group, a Columbia, S.C. carrier.

J. Robert Hunter, insurance director for the Consumer Federation of America, called Mr. Csiszars move an “amazing embarrassment” that exposes the interlocking ties between the industry and those charged with regulating its business.

Another industry criticBirny Birnbaum, executive director of the Center for Economic Justicewhile observing that “there doesnt seem to be any standard about regulators going to work for the industry,” praised Mr. Csiszar as “a smart guy with a lot of integrity. I hope hell improve the PCI contribution to the insurance regulatory debate.” Still, he conceded that the move could raise the question of “was he doing anything in anticipation of this job?”

However, Mr. Csiszar rejected any such criticism out of hand. “My role as a regulator will have to stand on its own and let history judge that one,” he said. “I was chief executive of a property-casualty company before I became a regulator and can clearly distinguish between the role of the regulator and other roles.”

Reproduced from National Underwriter Edition, December 16, 2004. Copyright 2004 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.