Gregory Maciag

Regulation: A Measured Pace is Best

A loose quote from James Wrynn, former New York State Superintendent of Insurance, speaking at out ITC 2012 event in London: Crises happen at high speed, but regulation is evolutionary and must proceed steadily.

There's a saying that fast laws tend to be bad ones. (Tell me about it.) The same goes for regulations. You have to be sure a crisis is really resolved before you try to overhaul the system. As the shock waves from a crisis lessen, you can start to make small changes. (Amen.)

Data is a Boardroom Issue

Colin Rickard sees Solvency II as a crucial opportunity for the European insurance industry to get its data management house in order:

“As a veteran of the data management industry, I have witnessed organizations across different sectors grapple with the challenge of ensuring high quality business data, but never before have I seen such a direct regulatory mandate for board level supervision of data. This is an opportunity, not a threat.

Data and IT professionals within insurance companies have been presented with the foundation for a business case to tackle the long-term data problems the industry has faced. Data is now a boardroom issue and that necessitates investment, KPIs and ongoing governance.”  Colin Rickard

NAIC - NIPR Using ACORD Standards

The National Insurance Producer Repository (NIPR), part of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) began to map ACORD messages in AML (ACORD Messaging Library) to the repository.  The development of AML was key for them.  The NIPR repository covers all lines and leveraging the all-lines approach of AML made the difference.

The team is hard at work in creating messages that will serve mutual purposes, allowing vendors, agencies and carriers submit producer licensing status and updates straight to NIPR in Kansas City.  NIPR then forwards the message to the states.

The National Insurance Producer Repository (NIPR), part of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) began to map ACORD messages in AML (ACORD Messaging Library) to the repository.  The development of AML was key for them.  The NIPR repository covers all lines and leveraging the all-lines approach of AML made the difference.

The team is hard at work in creating messages that will serve mutual purposes, allowing vendors, agencies and carriers submit producer licensing status and updates straight to NIPR in Kansas City.  NIPR then forwards the message to the states.

IAIS

Earlier this month in Basel, Switzerland, at the round building of the Bank of International Settlements, where international monetary cooperation was born in 1930 -- the central bank for central banks -- a small committee of insurance regulators from around the world met in their first open session to draft international "best practices" for insurance regulatory data collection.

The International Association of Insurance Commissioners' (IAIS) Task Force on Information Gathering and Analysis is helping emerging market insurance regulators to understand what data is needed to supervise solvency and protect consumers, and how to gather it. Ann Henstrand (ACORD Government Affairs) presented an introduction to ACORD Standards to the Task Force in Basel.  She distributed a DVD with the "Who is ACORD?" (http://video.acord.org) video in English, Japanese, Chinese, Itlanian, German, Spanish and French.

The international regulatory work closely parallels our own concerns.  While the IAIS builds what they call 'Guiding Principles' for insurance regulatory regimes around the glove, ACORD works at supporting implementation of the insurance data standards in all the markets where our members do business.  The pace and scope of converging regulatory standards is astonishing.  The IAIS meetings, which began at the NAIC office in Kansas City 15 years ago, attract hundreds of regulators and industry observers.

Insurance regulatory approaches worldwide are closely tied to smooth and consistent data-sharing.  Regulators need comparable, consistent data on insurer operations.  Their practices in asking for that information are shifting under our feet.  And they're increasingly going to be standards-driven.

Who in your organization tracks these changes?  Is the staff responsible for providing the information to regulators aware of these ensuing changes?  Are you taling to them?  Are they talking to you?  Will your systems be able to support them?  Do you know how they see the future, domestically and abroad?