Commissioner Welcomes Large Crowd to OIR Conference
Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty welcomed a large group to Tallahassee on October 30, 2014, for the Office of Insurance Regulation’s 2014 industry conference entitled, “Navigating the Changing Insurance Environment.” The conference drew a large number of participants in person at the Florida State University Turnbull Conference Center, and others participated remotely through a live webcast.
Commissioner McCarty opened the conference by commenting on the diversity of the insurance industry, with participants representing the property and casualty sector as well as life and health and consisting of actuaries, product filing personnel, lawyers, consultants, executives and others. Commissioner McCarty noted that the Office of Insurance Regulation and the industry are “colleagues in business development,” seeking to work cooperatively to ensure that compliant and competitive products are available to consumers.
The conference began with a discussion of Florida’s trade secret statute. This topic applies to both property and casualty and life and health filings, in which insurers often must provide proprietary data for review by the Office of Insurance Regulation. The conference then progressed to a series of breakout sessions, typically divided into property and casualty sessions and life and health sessions. These sessions allowed the Office of Insurance Regulation to share information with attendees relating to their specific segments of the industry. OIR officials described law changes, filing requirements, common mistakes, and frequently asked questions to help insurers understand the regulatory process and make product filings more efficiently.