Regulation/Legislation

I'm really sorry to hear that Eric Dinallo will be calling it a day as New York's insurance superintendent on July 3. He was a fair and effective regulator in the most trying of times, as well as press-friendly--always a plus in my book.

With the start of last week's hurricane season and continued congressional inaction on legislation reauthorizing and reforming the National Flood Insurance Program, the issue of dealing with catastrophic storms is reaching crisis proportions.

While industry association members who have worked with the outgoing NY insurance superintendent point to his handling of the AIG meltdown and WTC coverage dispute as his major accomplishments, Eric Dinallo shifts much of the credit to the agency.

The U.S. property-casualty insurance market would be able to handle another Katrina-like event this year, and there is capacity to issue catastrophe bonds post-event, representatives from Swiss Re said.

Authorities issued a "Scam Alert" yesterday warning that imposters were posing as insurance department employees targeting agents and brokers in Nevada and California seeking confidential personal data.

Political infighting has left the Texas Department of Insurance facing the possibility of being abolished through legislative inaction, but industry officials say there is no crisis at the moment.