Arizona Regulator Selected for International Supervisory Forum
The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) announced that Steve Ferguson, assistant director of the Arizona Financial Affairs Division, has been selected as the U.S. representative to the International Supervisory Forum. Newly established by the executive committee of the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS), the forum will bring together front-line regulators to address the supervision of insurance companies belonging to internationally active groups.
“Based off our U.S. multi-jurisdictional approach, this forum establishes a platform for lead supervisors of the largest internationally active groups to discuss emerging issues and practices,” said Christina Urias, Arizona insurance director and chair of the NAIC Solvency Modernization Initiative Task Force.
Ferguson has spent 18 years at the Arizona Department of Insurance.
Last year, the NAIC Solvency Modernization Initiative Task Force proposed the establishment of a Supervisory Forum, which was subsequently supported by the IAIS Executive Committee. The proposal was informed in large part by the goal to significantly enhance the effectiveness of supervision by engaging financial analysis experts from various jurisdictions on a variety of emerging risk issues and the supervisory responses and techniques that can be used in practice to identify and respond to those issues.
Established in 1994, the IAIS is comprised of insurance supervisors from 190 jurisdictions and is responsible for developing international standards and guidelines on insurance supervision. IAIS members also are engaged in training programs designed to assist in the implementation of IAIS standards throughout the world.
The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) is a voluntary organization of the chief insurance regulatory officials of the 50 states, the District of Columbia and five U.S. territories.