Every insurer that was supposed to give California regulators information about Iran-related investments now has done so, officials say.
California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner complained in July 2009 that 216 of the 1,327 insurance companies licensed in California had failed to report on investments that might be related to Iran. He planned to hold a hearing Jan. 12 to find out more about insurers that had failed to respond to the data call.
Today, all of the remaining 216 insurers have responded to the call for data, Poizner says.
Laws already forbid California insurers from investing directly in Iran.
The data call related to information about investments in companies based outside Iran that do business with Iran's nuclear, energy and defense sectors.
"Because all licensed insurance companies have now complied with the data call, the previously-scheduled Jan. 12 hearing for insurers to explain why they did not comply with the inquiry has been cancelled," California department officials say.
The department has found that insurers doing business in California have about $6 billion in investments in companies that do business with the Iranian energy, nuclear and defense sectors.
The California department plans to publish a list of those non-Iranian companies.
Once the list is posted, "insurers will be given 90 days to eliminate indirect holdings in Iran from their portfolios," officials say. "For companies that do not voluntarily agree to divest, [the department] will make public a list of these companies and provide the name and value of their Iran-related investments. Commissioner Poizner will also subpoena high-ranking executives of these insurance companies to testify under oath and ask them why they believe it is in the interest of California policyholders for their premium dollars to be invested in companies propping up Iran's energy, nuclear, and defense sectors."
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