Creation of an optional federal charter (OFC) for insurers will be on Congress’ 2011 agenda because it has strong bipartisan support, Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., has told state insurance legislators.
Rep. Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, made his comments about the OFC to the National Conference of Insurance Legislators (NCOIL) during their summer meeting late last month.
NCOIL provided a summary of his remarks in its monthly newsletter.
Frank said that as the committee chair, he would remain neutral during the debate. He also said the coming debate was a “not-surprising” follow-up to the massive financial services reform legislation just enacted by Congress, H.R. 4173, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. “The bill recognized the importance of state oversight,” he said.
The American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI) has been a strong supporter of an OFC but backed off a bit this year to focus on limiting the impact of omnibus financial services reform legislation, which life insurance companies feared was too “bank-centric.”