The National Conference of Insurance Legislators (NCOIL) will continue to lobby Congress against bills that would create a federal Office of Insurance Information (OII) within the Treasury Department and an optional federal insurance charter (OFC). In addition, James Seward, NCOIL’s new president, said the group will be focusing next year on broadcasting a message about how well state insurance oversight is working during the financial crisis.

NCOIL discussed its aims for the coming year during its annual meeting in Duck Key, Florida, shortly before Thanksgiving. “We are very proud of the fact that insurance companies are weathering this and that those entities under state insurance regulation are coming through this [crisis] much better than those entities that are federally regulated,” said Seward, a New York Republican state senator from Oneonta, N.Y. Seward said there is concern that “Washington may look at the financial meltdown in a knee-jerk way to push for federal regulation.”

NCOIL Vows To Keep Up Fight Against OFC and OII (National Underwriter 11/25/08)

December 2, 2008