ACLI Letter Offers Policy Recommendations to Senate Banking Committee

WASHINGTON, April 13 — The American Council of Life Insurers issued the following news release:

In a letter to Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee Chairman Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) and Ranking Member Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI) President and CEO Dirk Kempthorne recommended proposals to promote economic growth and help more Americans achieve financial security.

“As long-term investors, life insurers help drive economic growth and provide financial stability,” Gov. Kempthorne wrote. “In addition, the life insurance industry helps 75 million American families protect their financial and retirement security.”

Gov. Kempthorne's recommendations would help ensure the life insurance industry continues to contribute to the U.S. economy and Americans' financial well-being. They include:

* Repealing the Financial Stability Oversight Council's (FSOC) authority to designate insurers as systemically important.

“The designations of insurers were largely dependent on banking expertise, not insurance expertise. FSOC's decisions with regard to insurers were bank-centric and not grounded in an accurate understanding of the business of insurance.”

* Reemphasizing FSOC's role in identifying macro-prudential risks.

“FSOC's narrow focus on a few individual entities in certain sectors has diverted attention and resources away from its more important role as a broad-sighted macro-prudential overseer of the economy that can identify potential systemic risk in a timely fashion.”

* Increasing FSOC's insurance regulatory expertise.

“FSOC's structure should be changed, including adding state insurance regulators as voting members. FSOC's actions to date reflect its dominance by bank regulators, discounting the opinions of the single insurance expert voting member, resulting in erroneous and harmful decisions affecting insurance companies.”

* Supporting the Covered Agreement on insurance and reinsurance.

“The Covered Agreement on insurance and reinsurance strengthens the competitiveness of U.S. insurers and allows U.S. capital to be invested in the economy and put to work here in the U.S. In the absence of the bilateral Covered Agreement, U.S. companies operating in the EU would be compelled to export and sideline capital to meet costly, duplicative EU regulations.”

Gov. Kempthorne's full letter to the committee is available here. (https://www.acli.com/-/media/ACLI/Files/Newsroom-News-Releases-Public/041217_LtrToChairmanCrapoRankingMbBrown(003).ashx?la=en)

The American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI) is a Washington, D.C.-based trade association with approximately 290 member companies operating in the United States and abroad. ACLI advocates in state, federal, and international forums for public policy that supports the industry marketplace and the 75 million American families that rely on life insurers' products for financial and retirement security. ACLI members offer life insurance, annuities, retirement plans, long-term care and disability income insurance, and reinsurance, representing 94 percent of industry assets, 93 percent of life insurance premiums, and 97 percent of annuity considerations in the United States. Learn more at www.acli.com.