NAIC ‘Not Supposed To Be A Dictatorship,’ NY Commissioner Says

KANSAS CITY -- Things started hot at the National Association of Insurance Commissioners' working group meeting today as members immediately tangled over whether life insurance should be included in its best interest rule.

The Annuity Suitability Working Group is only charged with developing a standard model law for annuities, Chairman Dean Cameron said at the start of the session.

New York Insurance Commissioner James Regalbuto was not satisfied with those ground rules. New York is proposing a best interest standard that covers both life insurance and annuities.

"The NAIC is not supposed to be a dictatorship," Regalbuto told the group.

The idea is to produce a rule that the full NAIC membership can support, Cameron reminded his colleague. Likewise, the NAIC will be left out of the discussion ongoing among the SEC and other regulators if it cannot come up with a rule, he added.

"It behooves us to come up with a solution," Cameron said. "The work that we're going to do today and tomorrow is going to be some of the most important work that the NAIC will do."

Cameron ruled that any comments on the life insurance issue will be declared out of order.

InsuranceNewsNet Senior Editor John Hilton has covered business and other beats in more than 20 years of daily journalism. John may be reached at john.hilton@innfeedback.com.

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InsuranceNewsNet Senior Editor John Hilton has covered business and other beats in more than 20 years of daily journalism. John may be reached at john.hilton@innfeedback.com. Follow him on Twitter @INNJohnH.