What is the National Association of Insurance Commissioners?
The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) is an organization created and governed by the chief insurance regulators from across the 50 states, the District of Columbia and five U.S. territories. The organization is responsible for protecting the interest of the consumers of the insurance industry.
What Does the National Association of Insurance Commissioners Do?
The association supports the state insurance regulators in establishing standards and best practices, conducting peer review and coordinating their regulatory oversight. The central resources of the NAIC along with the members of the association develop the national system of state-based insurance regulation. The NAIC was formed in 1871 with a goal of developing uniform financial reporting standards for insurance companies. The headquarter of NAIC is located in Kansas City. The NAIC assists the insurance regulators, individually and collectively, in serving the public interest and achieving certain fundamental regulatory goals. They aim to do it in a responsive, efficient and cost-effective manner, consistent with the wishes of its members. The goals of the NAIC are,
- Protect the public interest;
- Promote competitive markets;
- Facilitate the fair and equitable treatment of insurance consumers;
- Promote the reliability, solvency and financial solidity of insurance institutions; and
- Support and improve state regulation of insurance.
The members of the NAIC are the elected or appointed state government officials who are responsible for regulating the insurance companies in their respective state or territory. These officials along with the other staffs of their department regulate the conducts of the insurance companies and insurance agents. The President, Vice President and Secretary-Treasurer of the NAIC are elected each year by its members in a secret ballot. It has four operating zones: Northeastern, Southeastern, Midwestern and Western. Each zone has their own chair, vice chair, and secretary and they are the member of the NAICs executive committee. The NAIC has different divisions to run the organization efficiently. The divisions are executive, financial regulatory service, human resources, and internal services, information technology group, regulatory services, legal services, communications/ media relations, member services, and technical services. Each of these divisions works in their respective fields in order to provide an overall support to the organization in developing and administering the regulations for the insurance industry.
