On January 29, 2009, the New York Insurance Department (“NYID”) released a draft regulation on producer compensation transparency (the “Draft Regulation”), which aims to protect public interests by setting forth minimum disclosure requirements regarding the role of insurance producers and the “actual or potential conflicts of interest created by compensation paid to insurance producers.”
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Regulatory
Bolivia: Insurance Regulatory Structure to Change as Part of Constitutional Reforms
By Troutman Pepper Locke on
Posted in Latin American Developments, Regulatory
As part of the structural changes ushered in by the new Bolivian constitution (for further discussion, see here), the central government will absorb eight of the country’s ten existing superintendencies, leaving only the superintendencies of banking and hydrocarbons as “independent.” In addition, the Superintendencia de Bancos (Superintendency of Banks), which currently regulates insurance in Bolivia, will reportedly be renamed the Autoridad de Supervision de Entidades Financieras (Financial Entity Supervisory Authority).
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UK: FSA Consults on Permanent Short Selling Rules
By Troutman Pepper Locke on
We have reported previously on the FSA’s temporary ban on short selling of stocks in the UK financial sector, and the disclosure requirements that applied to existing short positions (click here to see our most recent post).
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Connecticut Legislature Proposes Bill to Broaden Consumers’ Rights by Enabling Consumers to Sue Insurers for Unfair Claim Practices
By Troutman Pepper Locke on
The Connecticut legislature has proposed a new bill, SB-763, An Act Concerning the Connecticut Unfair Insurance Practices Act, which could potentially enable Connecticut consumers to sue insurers for unfair claim practices. Click here for a copy of the proposed bill.
UPDATE: SCHIP Extension Signed Into Law
By Troutman Pepper Locke on
This updates our January, 15, 2009 posting. On February 4, 2009, President Obama signed into law the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009 (H.R. 2) (the “Act”). The Act extends the State Children’s Heath Insurance Program (“SCHIP”) through the 2013 fiscal year and expands SCHIP to cover an estimated 4 million additional children. …
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Florida Insurance Commissioner Subpoenas State Farm Florida Policyholder Information
By Troutman Pepper Locke on
Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty (McCarty) announced on Thursday January 29, 2009 that he has issued a subpoena seeking detailed information from State Farm Florida Insurance Company (State Farm Florida) regarding the company’s Florida property insurance policyholders. McCarty’s subpoena follows in the wake of State Farm Florida’s January 27, 2009 announcement that it is pulling out the Florida property insurance market (as reported here).
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NCOIL Debates Credit Default Swaps Regulation
At a hearing held by the National Conference of Insurance Legislators (“NCOIL”) on Saturday, January 24, 2009, a panel of state legislators heard testimony from a number of experts regarding the advantages and disadvantages of regulating the credit default swap (“CDS”) market on a state, rather than federal, basis.
New York Insurance Department Approves CIFG Transactions
On January 22, 2009, the New York Insurance Department (the “NYID”) approved two transactions involving CIFG Holding, Ltd. (“CIFG”), a financially-impaired bond insurer. The transactions involved a commutation of approximately $12 billion in troubled credit default swaps and reinsurance of $13 billion of municipal bonds, and are expected to help the company avoid rehabilitation. Last year, the NYID agreed to forbear placing CIFG in rehabilitation in order to allow these transactions to develop.
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CLIENT ADVISORY: New York Releases Proposed Amendment to Regulation No. 20 Relaxing Collateral Requirements for Unauthorized Reinsurers and Prohibiting Arbitration
By Troutman Pepper Locke on
On December 24, 2008, the New York State Insurance Department (“NYSID”) released Proposed Tenth Amendment to Regulation No. 20 (11 NYCRR 125) Credit for Reinsurance from Unauthorized Reinsurers (the “Proposal”). The Proposal, if adopted, would significantly liberalize existing reinsurance regulation by allowing ceding insurers to take statutory credit for reinsurance assumed by unauthorized, unaccredited reinsurers without requiring as much, or in some cases, any collateral if certain conditions are satisfied. …
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UK: Government and FSA Responds to Ombudsman’s Enquiry into Equitable Life
By Troutman Pepper Locke on
The FSA issued a statement on 15 January 2009, in response to the Parliamentary Ombudsman’s report into the regulation of Equitable Life. In this statement, the FSA accepted the report’s findings that appropriate standards of administration and regulation were not achieved, and therefore accepted the Ombudsman’s recommendation that individual policyholders that were affected by the maldministration should be compensated by the Government. The FSA apologised for its failings in the statement.
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Read More UK: Government and FSA Responds to Ombudsman’s Enquiry into Equitable Life