Insurers with legacy blocks of business, or with other motivations to enter into block transfers of business or corporate split-offs, should consider a recent regulator call on so-called Insurance Business Transfers (IBTs)...more
Insurers writing variable annuities in New York will want to focus on newly proposed requirements from the New York Department of Financial Services (DFS) on separate account contracts...more
Insurers and others are closely following efforts by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) to develop a new, comprehensive, “principles-based” definition of debt securities for purposes of insurers’...more
New York-domiciled insurers should take note of new latitude from their home-state regulator concerning exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in their investment portfolios. The guidance could permit insurers to hold less capital...more
Insurers and fund advisers should consider newly proposed guidance from insurance regulators on funds’ use of derivatives in the context of regulatory capital treatment of a fund’s units, shares or interests. Once finalized,...more
When is an insurance commissioner not a governmental authority? A federal district judge reminds us that a state insurance commissioner, when acting as receiver of an insolvent insurer, acts in a different capacity to his...more
Insurers and reinsurers navigating the increasingly complex rules on reciprocity for collateral requirements should consider recent guidance from the leading U.S. standard-setting body. On June 17, 2021, the Reinsurance...more
Insurers whose mix of assets and liabilities might make it attractive to split into a “good bank” and “bad bank” should monitor a recent model law passed by an influential body of state legislators. On May 3, the National...more
Pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) should consider the implications of a model law making its way through the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) that would establish a licensure requirement and rules of...more
4/13/2021
/ Claim-Processing Rules ,
Health Insurance ,
NAIC ,
Patient Access ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM) ,
Prescription Drugs ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Regulatory Standards ,
The Model Law
On March 16, New York State Superintendent of Financial Services Linda Lacewell announced the issuance of Insurance Circular Letter 2021-5, on diversity (also referred to as “diversity, equity and inclusion” or DEI) and...more
Insurers in which a shareholder has a 10% or greater position should consider the latest guidance from state insurance regulators on variable interest entities (VIEs) and related parties. ...more
Ransomware threats and attacks dominated the cyber news cycle in 2020 and into 2021. With the global pandemic and the uptick in remote work and learning, cybercriminals and nation-state hackers have seized on vulnerabilities...more
2/10/2021
/ Cryptocurrency ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cyber Insurance ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Hackers ,
NYDFS ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Popular ,
Ransomware ,
Risk Management ,
Underwriting
New York-licensed insurers that write life and annuity products should consider possible balance-sheet implications for in-force variable business — including the ability to establish certain reserves over five years...more
New York-domiciled insurers may soon be able to take advantage of more-relaxed provisions on balance sheet credit for reinsurance where the assuming reinsurer is in a “reciprocal” jurisdiction to the United States. ...more
Insurance holding companies should be closely following the accelerating efforts by state insurance regulators to impose oversight over group (in addition to legal entity) financial resources....more
On August 14, at its all-virtual summer national meeting, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) adopted guidance governing illustrations for index-based life insurance. In a key development, New York...more
The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) Statutory Accounting Principles Working Group (SAPWG) met remotely on July 30, as part of the NAIC’s all-virtual 2020 Summer National Meeting....more
Controlling persons of insurance companies would be required to file an annual group capital calculation (GCC) with state insurance regulators, and such information would be subject to confidentiality protections, under new...more
On June 3, amendments to New York insurance regulations, available here, became effective that will permit the New York Superintendent of Financial Services to act as group-wide supervisor of internationally active insurance...more
On April 13, the New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS) issued guidance to its regulated institutions on how to manage cyber-risks connected to remote working, amid a “significant” increase in cybercrime...more
In what is apparently the first provision of its kind in the nation, on March 12, Wyoming amended its insurance code to expressly allow domestic insurers to invest in “digital assets.” ...more
On March 22, federal banking regulators, including the board of governors of the Federal Reserve System (FRB), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the National Credit Union Administration, the Office of the...more
On March 22, federal banking regulators, including the board of governors of the Federal Reserve System (FRB), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the National Credit Union Administration, the Office of the...more
The news that A.M. Best is developing stress testing to gauge the impact of COVID-19 on insurers is a timely reminder of the various regulatory capital and reserving regimes under which such exposure could be measured. In...more
Insurance carriers will find the following topics, recently discussed at the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), relevant to capital management, financial risk, solvency and similar “prudential” issues,...more
12/11/2019
/ Business Transfer Agreements ,
Capital Assets ,
Capital Requirements ,
Derivatives ,
Financial Solvency ,
Health Insurance ,
IAIS ,
Insurance Regulations ,
NAIC ,
Net Investment Income ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Reinsurance ,
Risk Management