- California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara issued Bulletin 2020-3 requiring insurers to refund premiums to policyholders of several lines of insurance, including automobile insurance, workers compensation and property...more
4/16/2020
/ Auto Insurance ,
Casualty Insurance ,
Commercial Insurance Policies ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Insurance ,
Insurance Commissioners ,
Insurance Industry ,
Premiums ,
Property Insurance ,
Refunds ,
Retroactive Application ,
Risk of Loss
Like each of us, insurance regulators throughout the United States are dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. Like the broader insurance industry, insurtech companies are striving to ensure continued operations, and insurance...more
COVID-19 continues to have an unprecedented effect on business operations throughout the world. While the availability of insurance coverage for pandemic-related losses is still far from certain, it is imperative that...more
3/23/2020
/ Business Interruption ,
Commercial General Liability Policies ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
D&O Insurance ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Insurance Claims ,
Insurance Industry ,
Policy Terms ,
Property Insurance ,
Public Health ,
Workers' Compensation Claim
The New York Department of Financial Services (DFS) recently issued Circular No. 5 that requires every regulated insurance entity to submit its plans to address the operational risk and identify, monitor and manage the...more
Since July 1, 2019, Delaware, New Hampshire and Connecticut have enacted laws imposing new cybersecurity requirements on insurers. These laws follow similar statutes already operating in at least six other states: Alabama,...more
9/16/2019
/ Cyber Insurance ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Protection ,
Data Security ,
Insurance Industry ,
Insurance Regulations ,
NAIC ,
Security Risk Assessments ,
State Data Breach Notification Statutes ,
State Insurance Administrations ,
The Model Law
Kentucky House Bill 386 is the first comprehensive framework for an insurance regulatory “sandbox” in the nation. It allows companies, even those without an insurance license, to market their inventions in a tailored...more
4/5/2019
/ Department of Insurance ,
Innovation ,
Insurance Industry ,
Inventions ,
New Legislation ,
Popular ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Safe Harbors ,
Sandbox ,
Technology Sector ,
Terms and Conditions
On January 18, 2019, New York’s Department of Financial Services (DFS) issued Circular Letter No. 1 (2019) to advise life insurers regarding the type of data that they may use when underwriting policies. The guidance was...more
1/30/2019
/ Algorithms ,
Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Data Collection ,
Data Use Policies ,
Department of Financial Services ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Disparate Impact ,
Insurance Industry ,
Insuretech Sector ,
Life Insurance ,
New Guidance ,
Protected Class ,
Startups ,
Transparency ,
Underwriting
• Insurtech start-ups are using technology to improve the underwriting process and obtain a competitive advantage.
• The CDI’s new legal opinion clarifies that even proprietary underwriting rules must be available to the...more
9/7/2018
/ CDIs ,
Innovation ,
Insurance Code ,
Insurance Contracts ,
Insurance Industry ,
Insurance Rates ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Public Disclosure ,
Startups ,
Technology Sector ,
Trade Secrets ,
Transparency ,
Underwriting
• The California Supreme Court clarifies application of the “principal object and purpose” test, finding that a self-storage operator’s indemnification plans are not subject to regulation under the Insurance Code.
•...more
4/26/2018
/ Amicus Briefs ,
CA Supreme Court ,
Department of Insurance ,
Insurance Code ,
Insurance Commissioners ,
Insurance Contracts ,
Insurance Industry ,
Leases ,
Property Damage ,
Rental Property ,
Startups
Last month Arizona became the first U.S. state to enact a law (H.B. 2434) establishing a fintech regulatory sandbox program to facilitate the growth of innovative financial products and services. The Arizona law charges the...more
Nearly 30 years ago the Fair Isaac Corporation (“FICO”) first introduced its metric for measuring creditworthiness. Since then, the FICO Score has become a default metric used by countless market participants to facilitate...more
2/27/2018
/ Chamber of Commerce ,
Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cyber Insurance ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Protection ,
Data Security ,
Insurance Industry ,
Internet ,
Rating Agencies ,
Security Risk Assessments ,
Small Business ,
Underwriting ,
Vendors
• Zenefits’ practice of providing free software to the general public constitutes an improper rebate under the state’s anti-rebate provisions
• Ruling could have significant impact on brokers’ ability to provide...more
12/6/2017
/ Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Anti-Rebate Statutes ,
Consent Order ,
Inducements ,
Insurance Brokers ,
Insurance Contracts ,
Insurance Industry ,
Integration ,
Purchasers ,
Reversal ,
SaaS ,
Small Business ,
Software ,
Zenefits
• Washington Administrative Law Judge rules that Zenefit’s provision of free software to general public does not infringe on the state’s anti-rebate laws due to value it provides to Washington businesses; however,...more
11/1/2017
/ Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Anti-Rebate Statutes ,
Consent Order ,
Insurance Brokers ,
Insurance Contracts ,
Insurance Industry ,
Integration ,
Purchasers ,
SaaS ,
Software ,
Zenefits
• NAIC recently adopted an Insurance Data Security Model Law that follows the risk assessment-based approach of the New York DFS Cybersecurity Regulation. This signals the growing influence of the New York Regulation,...more
11/1/2017
/ Cyber Insurance ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Security ,
Department of Financial Services ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
National Association of Insurance Commissioners ,
Non-Public Information ,
Notification Requirements ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Reinsurance ,
Risk Assessment ,
The Model Law ,
Third-Party Service Provider
• Recent shifts in insurance regulation are driven by consumer demand.
• Traps for the unwary mean that insurtech startups should engage with regulators early and often.
• Brokers need to know how to navigate the...more
The emerging insurance tech (“insurtech”) industry is growing at breakneck speed. While in 2011 insurtech startups received $140 million in funding from 28 total deals, investment increased more than tenfold in 2016, with...more
The practice of rebating has long been prohibited in nearly every state across the country. Despite this long-standing and widespread prohibition, the full scope of services that are and are not permissible under each state’s...more
Key Points -
- The Washington Insurance Commissioner recently found that Washington’s anti-rebating and inducement laws prohibit California-based insurance producer Zenefits from offering valuable software functions...more
On November 23, 2016, the Washington Insurance Commissioner ordered Zenefits to cease providing free access to software, following a nearly two-year investigation that began in February 2015 and a separate $100,000 fine in...more
A California appellate court recently lowered the bar for bringing California False Claims Act (CFCA) actions against government contractors and potentially eliminated key defenses to such actions. In San Francisco Unified...more