Rep. Randy Neugebauer (R-Texas) recently said he hopes to obtain a better understanding of how U.S. insurance supervisors are balancing the need to coordinate regulatory efforts overseas with their duty to ensure U.S. insurers are competitive in the global marketplace.
Neugebauer chairs the Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance and scheduled a series of hearings to examine the international competitiveness of the U.S. insurance industry.
The committee, according to Neugebauer, understands the benefit of better international coordination in terms of preventing regulatory gaps and promoting efficiency.
Neugebauer said he was concerned, however, that the International Association of Insurance Supervisors is moving away from a regulatory coordination approach to one of international standard setting.
“Such a shift would be an unwelcome development; especially given the unique nature of our insurance regulatory model, which is policyholder-centric and quite dissimilar from the consolidated, bank-like model favored by the IAIS,” Neugebauer said.
The hearings were scheduled in response to a range of international regulatory standards recently proposed by the G-20, the Financial Stability Board and the IAIS. The organizations have created a common framework for the supervision of global insurers known as ComFrame.
Neugebauer said ComFrame has the potential to disproportionately impact U.S. insurers and policyholders but is willing to hear from witnesses throughout the series of hearings to hear how it would affect the insurance markets.