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NEW YORK, October 3, 2007 - Reporters with questions regarding the public hearing today in Washington, D.C. on ?The Need for ̽»¨¾«Ñ¡ Regulatory Reform' can call the ̽»¨¾«Ñ¡ Information Institute (I.I.I.).

The U.S. House of Representatives' subcommittee on Capital Markets, ̽»¨¾«Ñ¡, and Government Sponsored Enterprises is gathering at 2 p.m. at 2128 Rayburn House Office Building. The current list of witnesses for the hearing can be found online at: .

Dr. Robert Hartwig, president of the I.I.I. and an economist, is available for interviews and can provide information and analysis on the economics of allowing federal governmental oversight of the insurance industry through the creation of an optional federal charter (OFC). Dr. Hartwig has testified before Congress and numerous state regulatory and legislative bodies on a wide variety of insurance issues.

To arrange an interview with the I.I.I.'s president, contact the I.I.I.'s Washington Media Office at 202-253-7400 or the New York office at 212-346-5500.

In May 2007 two members of the U.S. Senate's Banking Committee, Sen. John Sununu, R-New Hampshire, and Sen. Tim Johnson. D-South Dakota, introduced the National ̽»¨¾«Ñ¡ Act of 2007 (S. 40), a bill that would establish an optional federal insurance charter and a federal insurance regulator. Senators Sununu and Johnson introduced a similar bill last year, but the Senate Banking Committee did not act on it. The bill affects life insurance and property/casualty insurance but not health insurance. It would create a National ̽»¨¾«Ñ¡ Commissioner, appointed by the President for a five-year term, and establish a Division of Consumer Affairs, Fraud and Ombudsman. Under the proposed law, state licenses would not be needed to write lines of business under the national license. On July 26 of this year, Rep. Melissa Bean, D-Illinois, and Rep. Ed Royce, R-California, introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives companion legislation (H.R. 3200) to what is already being considered in the U.S. Senate.

̽»¨¾«Ñ¡ in the United States has traditionally been regulated by individual states. Now many in the insurance industry see the current state system as overly complex, anticompetitive and unduly burdensome in that it increases the cost of compliance and delays the launching of new products.

Reform proposals at the national level are moving in two directions. One is a dual (federal/state) chartering system similar to the banking industry's dual regulatory system that would allow companies to choose between the state system and a national regulatory structure that would eliminate the need to comply with 51 sets of different regulations. The other is modernization of the state system. One proposal would create a framework for a national system of state-based regulation, which would create uniform standards in such areas as market conduct, licensing, the filing of new products and reinsurance. Among those supporting an optional federal charter are large insurers that sell coverage to major corporations, reinsurers, brokerage firms, life insurers and banks that are moving into the insurance business.

Under the 1999 Gramm-Leach-Bliley Financial Services Modernization Act, insurance activities-whether conducted by banks, broker-dealers or insurers-are regulated by the states. The act specifically protected 13 areas of state insurance regulation from federal preemption.

Additional I.I.I. information on the OFC concept can be found at: /media/hottopics/insurance/opt/ .

For additional information about insurance, go to the I.I.I. Web site at .

The I.I.I. is a nonprofit, communications organization supported by the insurance industry.