President Trump signed the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act into law on May 24, 2018. Section 211 of the law requires the Secretary of the Treasury, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and Director of the Federal Insurance Office ("federal regulators") to support "increasing transparency at any global insurance or international standard-setting regulatory or supervisory forum in which they participate." The law requires the federal regulators to achieve consensus positions with State insurance regulators through the NAIC when the federal regulators "take a position or reasonably intend to take a position with respect to an insurance proposal by a global insurance regulatory or supervisory forum."
The law creates the Insurance Policy Advisory Committee on International Capital Standards and Other Insurance Issues at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. The Committee must comprise of not more than 21 members representing a "diverse set of expert perspectives from the various sectors of the United States insurance industry."
The law requires the Secretary of the Treasury and the Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System to submit an annual report and provide annual testimony on their efforts with the NAIC with respect to global insurance regulatory or supervisory forums. The reports must address (i) issues under discussion at international standard-setting bodies, including the Financial Stability Board (FSB) and the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS); (ii) the effects that proposals discussed at the international bodies could have on consumer and insurance markets in the United States; (iii) any position taken by the federal regulators in international insurance discussions; and (iv) efforts by the federal regulators to increase transparency at the FSB and the IAIS. The law also permits the NAIC to provide congressional testimony.
The law requires the federal regulators, in consultation with the NAIC, to complete a study and report to Congress on the impact of any final international insurance capital standard on consumers and markets in the United States before supporting or consenting to the adoption of the standard. The law provides for public notice and an opportunity for public comment with respect to the report. The federal regulators are required to submit to the Comptroller General of the United States the report for his or her review.
Finally, not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this law (November 20, 2018), the Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Secretary of the Treasury, or their designees, shall submit to Congress a report and provide testimony to Congress on the efforts of the Chairman and the Secretary to increase transparency at meetings of the IAIS. S. 2155, 115th Cong. § 211 (2018).
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