The composition of the new Federal Insurance Office (FIO) is beginning to crystallize. After naming Illinois Insurance Commissioner Michael McRaith as director of the office in March, the U.S. Treasury Department today announced the creation of the Federal Advisory Committee on Insurance (FACI), which is intended to buttress the FIO by providing “advice, recommendations, analysis, and information.”
The FACI will consist of 15 members with expertise in the area of insurance culled from a diverse array of sources. Members will be selected by the Treasury Department and serve two-year terms.
“The Committee will provide a critical forum for State and Tribal insurance regulators and/or officials, distinguished members of the property and casualty insurance industry, the life insurance industry, the reinsurance industry, the agent and broker community, academics, and consumers,” the
The formation of FACI seems prudent in light of the scope of the FIO’s purview. Proscribed in the Dodd-Frank Act, the FIO’s primary mission is to monitor “all aspects of the insurance industry, including identifying issues or gaps in the regulation of insurers that could contribute to a systemic crisis in the insurance industry or the U.S. financial system.” The FIO is also charged with coordinating and developing a unified federal policy on insurance and representing the U.S. before the International Association of Insurance Supervisors or other international bodies.
