Warring Watchdogs: NAIC and FIO

'The Federal Insurance Office conflicts with the states’ role as primary regulators, complicates their engagement with fellow insurance regulators globally, duplicates data collection from our industry,' said state insurance commissioners in asking Congress to eliminate the FIO.

The NAIC, the FIO and the ‘Bermuda Triangle’

By Kerry Pechter
The Federal Insurance Office has issued warnings about the ties of private equity-led life insurers to 'shadow banking' and 'shadow insurance.' Why do state insurance commissioners want to shoot the messenger?
From ChatGPT

Slow-Walking the Oversight of Insurers and CLOs: 2010 – 2025

By Editorial Staff
Committees at the National Association of Insurance Commissioners since 2014 have been studying how best to regulate the purchase of collateralized loan obligation tranches by life/annuity companies from asset managers who own them. "No uniform binding regulatory overhaul has been enacted," says ChatGPT, which provides a timeline of NAIC activity on CLOs.
Anecdotal Evidence

CLOs: The 4th Leg of the ‘Bermuda Triangle’

By Kerry Pechter
Ownership of life/annuity companies has given PE companies a tool for tapping the virtually bottomless pool of tax-deferred U.S. retirement savings for their high-profit, lightly-regulated private credit businesses. 

COVER STORIES YOU MAY HAVE MISSED

April 2025

ChatGPT: Social Security Is No ‘Ponzi Scheme’

By Kerry Pechter
'Ponzi schemes are private frauds that collapse when new investors stop joining. Social Security is managed by the U.S. government, backed by legal mandates and payroll tax revenues,' ChatGPT told me. (Art: 1980s Social...
March 2025

‘Rated Note Feeders’ Attract NAIC Attention

By Kerry Pechter
Holding a rated note (instead of an unrated private equity fund) can reduce the extra capital that life insurers need to post when buying risky, unrated private assets. Insurance regulators have taken interest in...
February 2025

A Flood of ‘Flow Reinsurance’

By Kerry Pechter
Flow reinsurance involves the ongoing, immediate transfer of risks from a life insurer to a reinsurer as soon as annuities are issued. Life/annuity companies have used flow reinsurance for at least 15 years, but...