NAIC Testimony to Congress Advocates States' Role in Insurance Issues
October 31, 2017
Connecticut Insurance Commissioner Katharine L. Wade testified before Congress representing the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC). Ms. Wade responded to questions from the Committee on Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance about the appropriate role for the federal government in insurance issues. The hearing focused on the federal government's international and domestic engagement.
"We are committed to working with our federal colleagues, the Federal Reserve and the United States Treasury Department's Federal Insurance Office (FIO), to ensure U.S. interests are appropriately represented," said Ms. Wade, who chairs the International Insurance Relations Committee at the NAIC. "However, it is important to understand their authorities in the insurance sector are more limited than those of the states, which are the primary regulators of the insurance sector."
The hearing was called to examine the roles of various agencies as well as congressional oversight of domestic and international insurance issues. Ms. Wade expressed support for two legislative proposals, the International Insurance Standards Act (H.R. 3762) and the Federal Insurance Office Reform Act (H.R. 3861).
"The NAIC strongly supports these legislative proposals," Ms. Wade said. "They encourage cooperation, clarify the respective roles of FIO, the Federal Reserve, and state insurance regulators, and promote oversight, transparency and inclusion. These improvements will solidify and clarify relationships at home while advancing the interests of the United States in defending our regulatory system, our companies and our citizens abroad."
October 31, 2017
