Consumer advocates face an institutional bias at the National Association of Insurance Commissioners because they lack the people and money to level the playing field in lobbying regulators.

The National Conference of Insurance Legislators (NCOIL) said its new president for 2010 is Kentucky State Representative Robert Damron, D-Nicholasville, who said he would argue for continued state regulation of insurance.

A change in statutory accounting rules by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners could help insurers' financial flexibility, but it will not impact their ratings, said an analyst with Moody's Investors Service.

The hard market for financial institutions' insurance is unlikely to last through to the end of 2010, according to the latest Willis FI Index from insurance broker Willis Group Holdings.