- New York State Insurance Department
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The New York State Insurance Department (NYSID) is the State regulating agency responsible for supervising and regulating all insurance business in New York State.[1] It is regarded in the industry as one of the most state-of-the-art insurance regulating agencies. The Superintendent is James J. Wrynn.
Contents
History
Until 1849, insurance companies doing business in New York State were chartered by special acts of the New York Legislature. A law was passed in 1849 requiring prospective insurance companies to file incorporation papers with the New York Secretary of State. The law also vested regulatory power over insurance companies with the State Comptroller, who was authorized to require the companies to submit annual financial statements and to deny a company the right to operate if capital securities and investments did not remain secure.
The Insurance Department was created in 1859 by the New York State Legislature, and assumed the functions of the Comptroller and Secretary of State relating to insurance. The Department began operations in 1860. The Home Life Insurance Company based in Brooklyn, New York is the first life insurer to be authorized by the newly-formed New York Insurance Department in 1860.
It continued unchanged after a 1925 constitutional reorganization of State Government.[1]
Mission, supervisory function, and regulatory function
The Department’s mission is to ensure the continued sound and prudent conduct of insurers’ financial operations; provide fair, timely, and equitable fulfillment of insurer obligations; protect policyholders from financially impaired or insolvent insurers; eliminate fraud, other criminal abuse, and unethical conduct in the industry; and foster growth of the insurance industry in New York State.
The Department carries out its supervisory function by issuing licenses to agents, brokers, consultants, reinsurance intermediaries, adjusters, and bail bondsmen; conducting examinations of insurers to determine their financial condition, treatment of policyholders and claimants, and underwriting practices; and auditing each company’s annual reports.
The Department carries out its regulatory function by determining qualifications of insurers; regulating rates, certain retirement systems, and pension funds; reviewing policyholders’ complaints; supervising the liquidation, rehabilitation, and conservation of insolvent insurers; and approving corporate formations, mergers, and consolidations.[2]
Staff
The Department is headed by a Superintendent appointed by the Governor.
The Superintendent is James J. Wrynn. His Deputy Superintendents are: Kermitt Brooks, Susan Donnellan, Robert Easton, Dr. Hampton Finer, Michael Moriarty, Steven Nachman, David Neustadt, Troy Oechsner, Louis Pietroluongo, and Christopher Rulon.[3]
Offices
The Department has two primary operating locations in Albany[2] and New York City[3] with several other, smaller locations scattered throughout greater New York.[4]
References
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
