The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) held its 2016 Summer National Meeting from August 26 through August 29 in San Diego, California.

The meeting began with strong words from the NAIC President and Missouri Insurance Director John Huff concerning regulatory actions some European Union (EU) member states have taken against U.S. insurance groups based on their U.S. status and the lack of transparency into negotiations being conducted by Federal and EU officials. Those negotiations could culminate in a “covered agreement” that includes recognition of the U.S. regulatory with respect to the matters covered by the agreement. “Perhaps most troubling about the covered agreement negotiations,” President Huff said during the meeting’s opening session, “is how little state insurance commissioners, state and federal legislators, consumers or anyone else in the room for that matter, know about them. There is much speculation about what might be included or resolved, but no actual knowledge or insight except for a select few… Neither the Treasury Department nor the U.S. Trade Representative has offered to provide any insight on even high level expectations, let alone negotiating objectives.” These opening session remarks were followed by discussions during the International Insurance Relations (G) Committee and Reinsurance (E) Task Force (discussed below) that could signal a change in attitude among the states that have been working to eliminate barriers to non-U.S. reinsurers.