NU Online News Service, Oct. 26, 1:22 p.m. EDT
In the wake of the first congressional testimony of Michael McRaith, director of the new Federal Insurance Office, officials of the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies say he appears to "have an understanding" of the role the new agency is to fulfill.
But, officials of the National Association of Professional Insurance Agents, while expressing appreciation that McRaith affirmed that the FIO is not a regulator, also voice concerns with remarks by McRaith that the FIO's portfolio "is still being defined."
Both comments were made in response to McRaith's appearance Tuesday before the Subcommittee on Insurance, Housing and Community Opportunity of the House Financial Services Committee. The subcommittee is chaired by Rep. Judy Biggert, R-Ill.
Jimi Grande, NAMIC senior vice president, federal and political affairs, says McRaith understands the FIO's role is that of an "objective, reliable resource for information" on the insurance industry while "the state-insurance departments remain the functional regulators over the business of insurance."
Grande says NAMIC looks forward to working with McRaith as he builds the FIO with this goal in mind.
Grande explains, "NAMIC has long been an advocate for focusing reform efforts on improving the state-based regulatory system, as was Director McRaith in his former role as a state regulator.
"We continue to believe that any move towards a federal-regulatory system would only add duplicative, burdensome regulation on insurers and would ultimately increase costs for consumers without providing additional protections."
Mike Becker, PIA National assistant vice president of federal affairs, says that during the hearing, Biggert asked McRaith to repeat what he stated in his prepared remarks, that the FIO is not a regulator, and he did.
But later, Becker says, during an exchange about the activities of the FIO, McRaith stated, "The range and depth of our portfolio is still being defined."
Becker says, "PIA believes that the FIO's portfolio has already been defined in the Dodd-Frank bill, which establishes clear parameters on the FIO's activities."
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