MO Dept. of Insurance Re-accredited by NAIC for Financial Oversight

The Missouri Department of Insurance (MDI) has been re-accredited for five years by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, who certified the MDI’s work on monitoring the financial health of insurers and protecting consumer interests.

The announcement was made by Terri Vaughan, the NAIC president and Iowa’s insurance director, on Sunday at the opening session of the organization’s winter meeting in San Diego.

“We deeply appreciate this vote of confidence in our oversight of insurers’ ability to meet their financial obligations, principally the ability to pay policyholder claims,” stated Scott B. Lakin, the MDI director. “Our improvements in this area have helped the department cut by more than half the number of insurance receiverships in Missouri over the past decade.”

The MDI has now been re-accredited twice since the NAIC began its program in the early 1990s to upgrade the quality of state financial oversight. The bulletin noted that “All but one state now has earned NAIC accreditation, which indicates state agencies have adequate laws and manpower to safeguard the public.”

The MDI’s Division of Financial Regulation, headed by Kirk Schmidt, “conducts exams every three years of most insurers based in Missouri and monitors the finances of all 1,800 insurers selling policies in the state, based on annual and quarterly reports,” said the announcement. “Among its prime duties is identifying troubled insurers and helping them avoid insolvency and state takeover.”

“Our oversight of company finances is particularly important now because the aftermath of stiff price competition through 2000 and the loss of investment income from the stock market have placed unexpected pressures on insurers,” Lakin indicated.

Topics Missouri