Ins. Groups Form Main Street Coalition To Protect Small Business

WASHINGTON--Insurance company and producer associations have joined with the largest credit union trade group to form an interest group aimed at making sure financial services regulatory reforms don't harm small businesses.

The National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies, the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America, and the Credit Union National Association have joined together to form "Main Street America Coalition."

The aim is to distinguish these Main Street businesses from the Wall Street entities that "engaged in risky practices that led to the financial crisis," according to Jimi Grande, vice president, federal and political affairs at NAMIC.

According to a statement, the group represents "millions of critical stakeholders and financial services providers in communities across the nation."

In a letter to key members of Congress, the coalition described itself as a collection of financial service entities and businesses that "provide a solid, well-managed and regulated economic foundation for local communities."

The coalition asks members of Congress to recognize the "self-evident soundness and viability of locally based financial institutions" as they explore potential resolutions to the economic crisis.

"Policymakers seeking a long-term, successful solution to our present crisis must recognize the dramatic differences between Main Street organizations, which continue to meet the needs of their local markets/stakeholders, and those institutions that have required unprecedented government financial intervention even to survive," the group said in a letter to members of Congress.

"The lessons to be learned and the remedies to be applied should take into account this critical difference," the letter added.