House Panel May Split Life And P-C Efforts

The House Financial Services Committee could work on creating a federal regulation option for life insurers before working on making that option available to property-casualty insurers.

Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., chairman of the committee, talked about the possibility of “bifurcation” of life and p-c “optional federal charter” efforts today at a press conference.

Rep. Paul Kanjorski, D-Pa., chairman of the Financial Services Committee’s capital markets subcommittee, will hold several hearings on the idea of giving insurers the option of choosing a federal charter, Frank said.

Updating the current state-based regulatory system could be helpful in international relations, Frank said.

Every time Frank talks with foreign regulators, they mention the difficulty that insurers in their countries have with dealing with each U.S. state separately, Frank reported.