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March 18, 2009 at 08:00 PM
States’ standards for insurance producer fingerprinting and education standards continue to vary widely, officials say.
The National Association of Insurance Commissioners, Washington, has released data on producer licensing uniformity in a report to members on the results of state assessments by the NAIC/Industry Producer Licensing Coalition, which includes both regulators and insurance industry representatives.
The coalition has been organizing efforts to bring outside regulators and industry representatives together with the regulators in charge of producer licensing in specific states, to offer licensing officials help with moving toward reciprocity and uniformity.
Coalition members compiled data through mid-March.
There were 98 instances of a state or other jurisdiction adopting the national standard in the past year, but many differences remain, officials write in a report summarizing the coalition’s findings.
Tennessee Insurance Commissioner Leslie Newman, chair of the NAIC/Industry Producer Licensing Coalition, says the coalition found states have achieved an overall 84% licensing uniformity and reciprocity compliance rate.
The improvement in the compliance rate since February 2008 “means the process is working as designed,” Newman says.
Some national standards, such as a standard requiring the minimum age for agents to be 18, have attracted total or almost total compliance.
