NCOIL to Investigate Corporate Governance Issues

The National Council of Insurance Legislators announced that a subcommittee will begin investigating the appropriate role of the states regarding insurer corporate governance and accountability issues at the NCOIL summer meeting in Chicago on Friday, July 16.

“Recent corporate scandals have alarmed state legislators. We need to ensure that there are no gaps between state and federal corporate governance and accountability statutes and regulations,” said Kentucky State Rep. Bob Damron, Chair of the NCOIL Financial Services Subcommittee.

Damron said the subcommittee will focus especially on the appropriate state-level corporate governance oversight of insurance companies not under the regulatory purview of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), particularly mutual, non-profit, or closely held insurers.

The failure of financial services regulators to uncover in a timely manner problems in such high profile cases as Enron and WorldCom prompted Congress to enact a tough new law in 2002 to increase corporate policing. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 sought to protect consumers by increasing the accuracy and reliability of corporate disclosures made to regulators. However, Sarbanes-Oxley only applies to companies required to make filings to the SEC.

The NCOIL summer meeting will run from July 15-18 at the Hotel Inter-Continental Chicago on North Michigan Avenue.