After weeks of speculation, New York state Gov. Andrew Cuomo has formally nominated Linda Lacewell to be the next superintendent of the state Department of Financial Services.
The department handles regulation of insurance, banking, trusts, real estate finance, and capital markets activities. The department is in the middle of efforts to implement new financial products suitability standards that could affect the sale of life insurance, as well as the sale of annuities and other types of financial services products.
Lacewell is Cuomo’s chief of staff. If confirmed, she will replace outgoing Superintendent Maria Vullo, who announced in December that she would be leaving the agency at the end of January. Vullo has not decided what she’s planning to do after leaving the Cuomo administration, which she’s served in for the last three years.
(Related: New York Department of Financial Services Head Vullo to Depart)
Vullo has been the second person to hold the position. The first superintendent, Benjamin Lawsky, left to start his own consulting firm. Vullo said in an interview last month that she had been considering the move for some time.
The New York State Department of Financial Services
The Department of Financial Services was created in 2011. It combines the operations of the old state Banking Department and Insurance Department.
The department is one of the most powerful financial regulatory agencies in the world, because many of the world’s largest companies are either based in New York state or have subsidiaries or affiliates based in the state.
In addition to promulgating regulations related to financial services sales standards, the department has developed regulations affecting many other sectors.
The department has, for example, imposed strict cybersecurity requirements on state-regulated banks and insurers.
Under Vullo, the department mandated that the state’s health insurers provide coverage for contraceptives and abortions without imposing deductibles or other cost-sharing measures.
In some cases, the department’s enforcement activities bring in a substantial share of state revenue.
Going into the 2015 legislative session, New York state had an annual budget of about $150 billion. The Department of Financial Services brought in about $4 billion in financial institution settlement payments.
Linda Lacewell
Lacewell has a bachelor’s degree from New College of Florida and a law degree from the University of Miami.