Remarks on contingent commissions made by New York State Insurance Superintendent Howard Mills at a PIA of New York event are getting major press attention. The commissioner spoke September 29 at PIANY’s third annual MetroRAP event, saying that insurance consumers don’t need their agents or brokers to give them elaborate disclosure statements to prevent bid rigging.

Contingent commissions are not the equivalent to bid rigging, Mills said. “They’re very different from each other. We’re not going to promulgate a regulation that says contingent commissions are illegal.” Nor does he expect the state legislature to ban them. “There’s no appetite for legislation to make illegal contingent commissions,” he said in his speech.  Mills also called the pending expiration of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA), “the most important issue facing our national economy.”

The commissioner’s speech at PIA of New York was covered in an article that appeared Monday in the Westchester Business Journal.

Insurance Chief Calls for Simple Disclosure (Westchester NY Business Journal 10/10/05)

October 12, 2005