Insurance Coalition Applauds Nobel Laureate’s Comments
Recent comments by Mr. Maurice Greenberg, Chairman and CEO of CV Starr and Co. (as reported by Ettie Schmitt in Business Insurance-February 15, 2007) were most enlightening and intriguing.
According to the article, Mr. Greenberg stated that federal insurance regulation would be "a lot better." A lot better? I am struck by the simplicity and profound nature of such a comment. A lot better than what?
Does he view a massive new federal bureaucracy as 'a lot better' than local officials who seek to represent their state's unique insurance needs for their respective consumers?
Does he believe the dismantling of over 135 years of state-based insurance laws and regulations in favor of a complex and confusing federal-state system to be 'a lot better?'
Does he believe a federal insurance regulator "would be in everyone's interests..." while there are life and health insurance companies, property and casualty insurance companies, insurance agents and brokers, and insurance trade associations who OPPOSE a federal insurance regulator?
Does he believe the current regulatory environment has forced insurance companies into declining revenues, lower profits to stockholders, decreasing dividends to policy holders, reductions in company investment capital, and triggered a lack of innovation and competition throughout the U.S. insurance industry?
Does he believe the European Union's system is better than America's?
Mr. Greenberg is quoted as saying, "Of course we need regulation, but enlightened regulation"---I shall eagerly look forward to the form of enlightenment he seeks and his plan to lead others. If a federal insurance regulator is his vision of a plan "I'm willing to fight for," then the dialogue and debate on this issue will reach new heights.
"A lot better,"------"everyone's interests,"------"enlightened regulation."
The Coalition Opposed to a Federal Insurance Regulator ( COFIR) is composed of property and casualty companies, life and heath insurance companies, and insurance trade associations which oppose efforts to create a federal insurance regulator.
COFIR supports targeted federal reform efforts such as the surplus and excess lines legislation which has bipartisan support in Congress and throughout the insurance industry.
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