Health insurance

NY Regulator Says Existing Insurance Controls Are Adequate

17.06.09

(AIG) is one driver behind the Obama administration's call for a new federal insurance office, but a key state regulator says the problems started elsewhere.

"The insurers in the AIG system had a lot of capital set aside for their commitments," unlike AIG's derivatives-selling unit, which was supervised by the Office of Thrift Supervision, said Eric Dinallo, New York's insurance superintendent and the main insurance regulator for AIG, in a Tuesday interview. Dinallo has called for insurer regulation to stay with the states; the Obama administration Wednesday is asking that the Office of Thrift Supervision be closed under its proposed revamp of federal regulations.

A draft proposal for expanded federal financial regulation released late Tuesday calls for a new Office of National Insurance "to gather information, develop expertise, negotiate international agreements, and coordinate policy in the insurance sector," according to the draft.

It is unclear what role will remain for the existing system of 50 state insurance departments, which the proposal says "led to a lack of uniformity and reduced competition across state and international boundaries, resulting in inefficiency, reduced product innovation, and higher costs to consumers." A spokeswoman for the National Association of Insurance Commissioners did not immediately have a response to the proposal.

Source: CNNMoney.com

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