An update on the Commissioner’s work with the NAIC from the Mass OCABR
The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) has again selected Massachusetts Division of Insurance Commissioner Gary Anderson to chair the International Insurance Relations (G) Committee for 2021. Commissioner Anderson was also recently selected for another 2-year appointment to the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) Executive Committee (ExCo).
As insurance has become increasingly global, having a voice in national and international standard-setting is vital to ensuring the protection of Massachusetts policyholders and the domestic insurance market. Maintaining a competitive insurance market with a level playing field, not just domestically but also internationally, enhances the availability of products to protect consumers from financial loss.
The NAIC, as part of the state-based system of insurance regulation, is the U.S. standard-setting organization governed by the chief insurance regulators from the 50 states, the District of Columbia and five U.S. territories. The mission of the NAIC’s International Insurance Relations (G) Committee is to coordinate NAIC participation in international discussions on the development of insurance regulatory and supervisory standards and to promote international cooperation. The G Committee also coordinates on international insurance matters with the federal government, including the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the Federal Reserve Board, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, and other federal agencies. Commissioner Anderson’s re-appointment as Chair of G Committee marks the first time a U.S. commissioner has chaired it for three consecutive years.
The IAIS is the international standard-setting body responsible for developing and assisting in the implementation of principles, standards and other supporting material for the supervision of the insurance sector. Commissioner Anderson is one of four U.S. commissioners to serve on the IAIS’s ExCo. Beginning in 2020, he was also selected by the IAIS as Chair of its Policy Development Committee (PDC), one of two committees at the IAIS responsible for developing insurance supervisory policy. The IAIS’s PDC is tasked with monitoring financial stability and systemic risk in the insurance sector and providing adequate standard-setting responses to developments within the industry, financial markets and business practices as well as to policyholders’ needs.
The first Mass. Commissioner to hold a leadership position on international insurance issues
No Massachusetts insurance commissioner has previously held these leadership positions on international issues. In these roles, Commissioner Anderson is recognized as a global leader on insurance regulation and supervisory measures. His negotiations over the past two years have helped preserve the capital framework established and being enhanced in the U.S. for the protection of policyholders. As insurance companies expand the boundaries of their operations, it is imperative that insurance regulators strengthen solvency regulation and ensure purchasers of insurance products are protected. Commissioner Anderson’s role also aids in the development of policies that have global application, like climate risk and measures to ensure resiliency, as well as gives Massachusetts policyholders and Massachusetts-based companies an advocate in insurance matters that will affect them.
Commissioner Anderson recently participated in a virtual panel on Sustainable Insurance: Emerging Risks, Trends and Opportunities, with fellow leaders from around the world, to discuss the impact of COVID-19 on the insurance sector and the insurance protection gap. The NAIC has announced that Commissioner Anderson will moderate a panel on SupTech – Embracing Innovation in Supervision at the International Insurance Forum to be held virtually May 25-26. The panel will discuss how the pandemic has accelerated the use of technology to enhance and streamline supervision and how technology might continue to shape supervision in the future, including trends for further development of supervisory technology, potential lessons for the insurance industry, and possible market and consumer implications.
