NAIC Commences Summer Meeting in New Orleans

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) will hold its Summer National Meeting in New Orleans, La., this weekend.

After considerable deliberation, the Meetings Coordination Task Force decided against holding the meeting in San Francisco. At the request of the task force, Chairman Jim Long, North Carolina insurance commissioner, and Vice-Chair Darla Lyon, South Dakota insurance commissioner, made the final decision to move the meeting to the New Orleans Marriott.

“Making this decision was very difficult given the short notice and divergent views within our membership regarding the labor dispute,” Long said. “Ever since the adoption of our Statement of Intent one year ago, NAIC members have demonstrated full commitment to being personally involved in our modernization initiatives and meeting deliberations. Respecting the fact that many of our members and their staff would be placed in a difficult situation because of the current environment at the hotel, and because it became clear that our June meeting would not enjoy full participation, we felt it would be in the best interest of the association to move the meeting site to an alternate location.”

This weekend more than 200 people are expected to attend the Electronic Commerce Symposium hosted by the NAIC’s Electronic Commerce and Regulation Working Group in coordination with the Summer Meeting. The symposium, June 9, from 12:30 – 5 p.m. at the New Orleans Marriott, will feature the latest information on electronic commerce and its impact on the insurance business and insurance regulation.

Robert Bland, CEO of Quotesmith.com, will be the keynote speaker, discussing the overall picture of the struggling “dot.com” economy. Ohio Insurance Director Lee Covington, chair of the working group, will give the introductory remarks. “The symposium provides a great opportunity for regulators and others to hear about the latest developments in electronic commerce from the country’s experts on e-insurance,” Covington said. “E-commerce continues to gain momentum as a way to sell insurance products and reach insurance consumers. It is important that we understand the evolving electronic commerce market and how it affects the insurance industry and consumers.”

Registration for the Electronic Commerce Symposium is required; however, there is no additional cost for NAIC national meeting attendees. In addition, sign-in for Continuing Legal Education credits will be available for registered attendees of the symposium. Registration materials and additional information are available on the NAIC website at www.naic.org. Requests for further information can be sent to NAIC staff member Davin Cermak at dcermak@naic.org.

The American Insurance Association (AIA) announced that it will again urge the NAIC to take prompt, meaningful action on regulatory modernization during the meeting.

“We’re looking forward to continued progress on speed to market issues, including the elimination of government price and product controls, so that the regulators can concentrate resources on core regulatory functions such as market conduct regulation,” said Paul Blume, AIA vice president, Midwest region.

During a public hearing before the NAIC Market Conduct and Consumer Affairs Committee Saturday, AIA will testify on the NAIC’s market conduct examination reform proposals, including the Value Added Market Conduct Program, the Zone Approach to Market Conduct Examinations and the Model Market Analysis Program.

The Insurance Securitization Working Group will discuss indexed-based insurance derivatives on Monday. “AIA strongly favors this alternative to reinsurance,” said Phil Schwartz, AIA vice president of financial reporting, and assistant general counsel.

“AIA looks forward to continued progress in working with regulators on meaningful regulatory reform in the dawn of this new era of financial services modernization,” said Blume.

Topics Legislation