Calendar of Industry
Events
Complete conference information will be available on the NALC
website at
http://www.nalc.net/conference/registration.htm.
Coming soon:
- Online Registration
- Conference Schedule
- Sponsorship Opportunities
- Hotel Reservation Form
The NALC welcomes the following new associate members.
Brookfield Investment Management
Brookfield Investment Management Inc. is a global investment
manager focused on specialized equity and fixed income securities
investments. The firm is a subsidiary of Brookfield Asset
Management, a leading global asset manager with over $100 billion in
assets under management as of March 31, 2011 and over 100 years of
experience in the property, power, and infrastructure industries.
The combination of access to this operational experience along with
the breadth of our product offerings and depth of our investment
teams provides enhanced opportunity for investment.
Brookfield Investment Management is an SEC registered investment
advisor and with its affiliates had approximately $23 billion in
assets under management as of March 31, 2011. Headquartered in New
York, the firm maintains offices and investment teams in Chicago,
Boston, London, Hong Kong, Sydney, and Toronto.
Chase and Walls, LLP
Charles M. Walls, Attorney
100 Chestnut St., #208
Abilene, TX 79602
Phone: 325-673-3745 Fax: 325-676-1408
Morris Manning & Martin
Chris Petersen, Attorney
1600 Atlanta Financial Center
3343 Peachtree Road, NE
Atlanta, GA 30326
Phone: 404-233-7000 Fax: 404-365-9532
http://www.mmmlaw.com
Morris, Manning & Martin is well-known for its exceptional
practice in the insurance industry. Our lawyers possess in-depth
industry knowledge and experience with navigating complex insurance
regulations and practices. Carriers, reinsurers and alternative risk
ventures across the U.S. make it their policy to engage the
industry-focused Insurance & Reinsurance Practice of Morris, Manning
& Martin.
Our Firm and lawyers possess a keen understanding of our clients’
businesses and the sectors in which they operate. Legal solutions
are delivered by industry-focused, diverse, involved lawyers who are
dedicated to their clients’ success, whether in a transaction, in
court or in the everyday course of business.
We distinguish ourselves from other firms by offering our clients
leading resources in many disciplines. Our breadth of practice
enables us to handle the most complex matters and solve our clients'
problems as a seamless team.
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Special Interim Election Held to Replace McRaith
Members of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners
(NAIC) held a special plenary meeting via conference call to elect a
new Secretary-Treasurer. The interim election was convened to
replace Illinois Insurance Director Michael T. McRaith, who was
selected in March to lead the Federal Insurance Office in
Washington, D.C.
Members elected North Dakota Insurance Commissioner Adam Hamm to
the position. He assumed Secretary-Treasurer duties on May 31, 2011.
"It is an honor and a privilege to be elected by my peers to serve
as an officer of this association," said Hamm. "I look forward to
working together on the many issues we face as insurance
regulators."
Hamm was appointed North Dakota Insurance Commissioner in October
2007 and was elected to a four-year term in November 2008. He
currently serves as Chair of the NAIC Life Insurance and Annuities
Committee, Vice Chair of the Midwest Zone and Chair of the
Principles-Based Reserving Working Group. Prior to becoming
commissioner, he served as a prosecutor for the Cass County State's
Attorney's office. Hamm also worked as an attorney in private
practice specializing in commercial litigation, administrative
agency law and transportation law. Hamm is a graduate of Sam Houston
State University and received his Juris Doctorate degree from the
University of North Dakota School of Law in 1998.
Working through the NAIC, state regulators have formed a special
task force to help coordinate regulatory investigations involving
the claim settlement practices of life insurance companies.
Specifically, insurance regulators have been investigating a number
of large life insurance companies regarding the possible failure to
pay death benefits to beneficiaries of life insurance policies. The
alleged practices include use of the Social Security
Administration’s Death Master File by insurers for purposes of
terminating payments under annuity contracts, but failing to use
this same information to facilitate the payment of claims on life
insurance policies.
Members of the newly created task force include California,
Florida (chair), Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, New Hampshire, New
Jersey, North Dakota, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
To date, the NAIC task force is coordinating with both the
Florida Office of Insurance Regulation and the California Department
of Insurance to conduct two joint public hearings to review industry
claims settlement practices. Below is information on each scheduled
hearing:
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NCOIL will hold its 2011 Summer Meeting July 14-17, 2011, at the
Marriott Newport, Newport, Rhode Island.
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Kevin Clinton, an East Lansing, Mich.-based insurance executive,
has been appointed the state's new commissioner for the Office of
Financial Insurance Regulation.
Pete Kuhnmuench, executive director of the Insurance Institute of
Michigan, said he was "very, very pleased" with the appointment of
Clinton, special adviser at the Office of Financial Insurance
Regulation and former president and chief executive officer of East
Lansing-based American Physicians Capital Inc., a physicians'
medical professional liability insurance provider, according to a
biography released by the Michigan Governor's Office. In 2010, he
led a successful merger between AP Capital and the Doctors Group.
Early in his career, Clinton worked for the state's Insurance
Bureau, which is now part of the Office of Financial and Insurance
Regulation.
Clinton's "first priority is to make sure consumers are protected
by making sure financial institutions are sound," Gov. Rick Snyder
said in a statement, noting Clinton will play a key role in helping
to bring jobs to the state. "He will also lead our effort to
eliminate burdensome regulations that are preventing the industry
from growing." said Snyder, a Republican. "More insurance companies
doing business in the state means more jobs, more competition among
insurance companies and banks, and better rates for consumers."
Clinton is taking over as commissioner for Ken Ross, who
announced last week he would be stepping down after three years as
the top insurance regulator in Michigan.
Ross' resignation, which went into effect on April 15, came as
Snyder's administration announced the formation of an advisory
committee to recommend changes in insurance and finance rules and
regulations, part of a statewide initiative by the new Office of
Regulatory Reinvention.
Benjamin Lawsky, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's pick to head the
newly formed Department of Financial Services, has been unanimously
confirmed by the State Senate. Lawsky, who had been Cuomo's chief of
staff, will take over as superintendent immediately. His
confirmation moved swiftly through the Senate. He was nominated just
last week.
The Department of Financial Services was created earlier this
year by merging the State Banking Department and the State
Department of Insurance as part of the 2011-12 budget. Cuomo
proposed combining the Banking and Insurance departments as part of
a plan to cut costs and streamline regulatory systems. He assigned
state agencies part of the blame for a poor response to the
financial crisis and said a combined department will be better
equipped to regulate modern financial services entities.
Lawsky has served in a number of government positions prior to
his newest assignment. In addition to serving as the governor's
chief of staff, Lawsky served as then-Attorney General Cuomo's
deputy counselor and special assistant.
Lawsky will be joined at the Department of Financial Services by
former Superintendent for the State Insurance Department James Wrynn.
In the new department, Wrynn will serve as deputy superintendent.
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Optional federal charter legislation will not come to a vote in
the current Congress, according to the chairwoman of the U.S. House
subcommittee that oversees insurance issues.
An OFC bill will not be an issue for the House Financial Services
Subcommittee on Insurance, Housing and Community Opportunity this
term, said Rep. Judy Biggert, R-Ill. Consideration of a federal
charter also does not appear on the full committee's oversight plan
for the 112th Congress. The subcommittee's agenda is focused on
reauthorizing and reforming the National Flood Insurance Program and
Dodd-Frank oversight, she said.
"In terms of the insurance sector, our subcommittee is focused on
monitoring the establishment of the Federal Insurance Office and the
activities of Financial Stability Oversight Counsel, and working to
ensure that our regulatory system promotes stability and U.S.
economic competitiveness," Biggert said through a spokesman.
A sponsor of the National Insurance Consumer Protection Act in
the last Congress, Rep. Ed Royce, R-Calif., still plans to introduce
a bill at some point, spokeswoman Audra McGeorge said. Royce lost
his primary Democratic partner when Melissa Bean of Illinois lost
her re-election campaign. Royce subsequently lost a challenge for
leadership of the full Financial Services Committee to Rep. Spencer
Bachus, R-Ala.
The Financial Services Committee will have its hands full with
focusing on Dodd-Frank implementation and possible revisions, said
Leigh Ann Pusey, president and chief executive officer of the
American Insurance Association, a leading proponent of past OFC
efforts. "I think that there is less appetite on the heels of such
huge historic reform," she said.
Another strong OFC backer, the American Council of Life Insurers,
is "reviewing the state of insurance regulation in the wake of
Dodd-Frank with our members," spokesman Whit Cornman said. "In the
near term, the ACLI's top priority is ensuring that the
implementation of Dodd-Frank as it affects life insurers is
appropriate to our industry and does not result in application of
bank-centric regulatory concepts to life insurance companies," he
said.
Allstate, which has long supported OFC movements, is holding out
hope for consideration of a bill in 2012. A report due early that
year on the efficacy of state insurance regulation, to be created by
the Dodd-Frank-created Federal Insurance Office, could be the
impetus, said William Vainisi, Allstate's vice president and deputy
general counsel.
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September 21 - 23, 2011