Home | Databases | WorldLII | Search | Feedback Edited Legal Collections Data

Mulhern, John; Hassouri, Parimah; Moreira, Daren --- "USA: A Regulatory Overview of the World’s Largest Insurance Market" [2012] ELECD 179; in Burling, Julian; Lazarus, Kevin (eds), "Research Handbook on International Insurance Law and Regulation" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2012)

Book Title: Research Handbook on International Insurance Law and Regulation

Editor(s): Burling, Julian; Lazarus, Kevin

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781849807883

Section: Chapter 25

Section Title: USA: A Regulatory Overview of the World’s Largest Insurance Market

Author(s): Mulhern, John; Hassouri, Parimah; Moreira, Daren

Number of pages: 18

Extract:

25 USA: a regulatory overview of the world's largest
insurance market
John Mulhern, Parimah Hassouri and Daren Moreira



1. INTRODUCTION

Perhaps the most important, and the most challenging, consideration in evaluating the
US system for regulation of the insurance industry arises from the fact that, unlike most
western nations, the US insurance industry is regulated primarily at the local level by the
various states, and not at the national level by the US federal government. The legislature
of each state, district or territory enacts laws that govern the insurance industry within its
borders. Insurers and reinsurers are regulated by state government officials in the state
under whose laws they were incorporated (referred to as their `domiciliary state'), and to a
degree by every other state in which they conduct business (referred to as `non-domiciliary
states'). Consequently, on any given insurance regulatory issue there could be as many as
56 sovereign governments with potentially applicable laws, regulations and supervising
regulatory agencies.1 It is true that the state insurance regulators working through their
national association, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (or `NAIC')
have made strides towards promoting uniformity of state insurance laws and regulations,
and requirements are more uniform between the states than they once were. There are,
however, still important differences between the laws of the various states in this area and
a position on an insurance regulatory question in one state may not be followed in other
states. This chapter provides an outline of this system ...