Mcraith, Leonardi, In background (Ben Nelson, Gary Hughes?)
(p26) - Tom Leonardi (CT - Insurance Commissioner): So I think what we need to do is step back and say again, what is the problem we are trying to solve with this very complex structure?
House - Committee on Financial Services - Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance
Finding the Right Capital Regulations for Insurers, Sherrod Brown (D-OH)
2014 0310 - Letter - Sheila Bair to Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) - re Finding the Right Capital Regulation for Insurers - 6p
(p5) - I question the argument that insurance organizations should have weaker bank/thrift holding company protections because their insurance policy holders can’t easily cash out if they make bad investments.
AAA - American Academy of Actuaries - GOV (Senate) - re Finding the Right Capital Regulation for Insurers - William C. Hines - 6p
Senate - Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee - Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Protection
2014 0408 - GOV (House) - Who's In Your Wallet: Examining How Washington Red Tape Impairs Economic Freedom
Clip - [VIDEO-YouTube] - Congressman Randy Neugebauer questions Scott Alvarez, General Counsel for the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, about capital standards for insurance.
Does the Fed support international standards being imposed on our domestic industry?
What objective evidence was used to justify global capital standards for insurers?
What cost benefit analysis was done?
How will the Fed work with state regulators to get their input on this issue?
House - Committee on Financial Services
2014 0520 - GOV (House) - Legislative Proposals to Reform Domestic Insurance Policy, Randy Neugebauer (R-TX) --- [BonkNote]
(p5) - Shelley Moore Kapito (R-WV) - Unfortunately, the consequences of Dodd-Frank are not limited to access to credit.
Life insurance policyholders could potentially see increases in premiums if life insurers are forced to capital levels designed for a lending institution.
I will continue to work with both Chairman Hensarling and Chairman Neugebauer to resolve this unintended consequence.
(p46) - Barney Frank (D-MA) - And I don’t think that—if that is your major—if that is all you do is asset management or sell life insurance, I don’t think you should be a SIFI.
For one thing, I think they have enough other things to do, and there is no sign of their causing problems.
(p72) - Barney Frank (D-MA) - And, with AIG—and you go about the causes—the Federal Reserve—Mr. Bernanke came to us in September of 2008 and said, ‘‘I have just given $85 billion to AIG.’’
We have changed the law. He couldn’t do that again because they weren’t solvent.
House - Committee on Financial Services
2014 0909 - GOV (Senate) - Wall Street Reform: Assessing and Enhancing the Financial Regulatory System, Financial Regulatory System (CSPAN)
So, Senator, I guess I would draw a distinction between the creation of capital standards for traditional or current insurance activities, on the one hand, and an assessment of systemic risk on the other.
My own reading of the FSOC process with respect to Prudential and AIG is that there is not a lot of concern about the core insurance activities of those companies.
The concerns were with respect to some nontraditional insurance activities where runnability is more of a concern, and also with respect to things that are not insurance activities of any sort.
I think that is where the analysis would allow one to conclude there is systemic importance.
I personally do not think that the issue of whether there is systemic importance in traditional insurance activities has really been broached, and I am personally not sure we need to broach it.
I mean, my pretty strong presumption would be that there is not.
Senate - Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs
Mr. FITZPATRICK. Governor Tarullo also noted that AIG and Prudential were designated as systemic not because of their core insurance activities but due to what he called ‘‘nontraditional insurance activities,’’ where runnability is more of a concern, and also with respect to things that are not insurance activities of any sort.
Do you agree with Governor Tarullo that to justify designating an insurance company as an SIFI that one would have to find that the company engages in activities that are not traditional insurance activities and that do pose systemic risk?