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March 02, 2009 at 07:00 PM
Washington
State insurance legislators have decided to defer action on a proposed Market Conduct Annual Statement Model Act.
Members of the National Conference of Insurance Legislators, Troy, N.Y., put off acting on the model here at NCOIL’s spring meeting. State lawmakers held off after many life and property-casualty insurance producers talked about their concerns with the current system.
NCOIL members said they hope to work with state regulators to develop a joint approach to market conduct that will lead to national uniformity in state producer licensing laws and rules.
The state legislators took steps to work more closely with state insurance regulators despite industry concerns about a competing model law proposed by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, Washington. The competing model law would permit the NAIC to create a central registry set up in such a way that users could obtain information about state actions against agents for a fee.
The provision in the NCOIL model act would require that market conduct annual statement data and analysis be kept confidential and privileged.
The NCOIL model also would establish a system that state insurance commissioners could use to collect, analyze, and share MCAS data with other entities, including the NAIC.
The concerns expressed by agent groups were echoed by representatives of insurers and insurer trade groups.
John Gerni, a representative of the American Council of Life Insurers, Washington, talked about the “importance of uniformity” in any model law adopted by either NCOIL or the NAIC.
Speakers also talked about lack of true reciprocity in state producer licensing rules, duplicative licensing requirements, and variations in state background check rules and fingerprinting rules.
Groups sharing concerns about the current system at the NCOIL meeting included representatives of the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America, Washington; the National Association of Professional Insurance Agents, Alexandria, Va.; and the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors, Falls Church, Va.
