January 2009 MPC Meeting Hotel Deadline Approaching

The reservation deadline at the Renaissance Tampa Hotel International Plaza, host hotel for the January 2009 MPC meeting in Tampa, Florida, is December 28, 2008. After that date, NOLHGA cannot guarantee room availability at the NOLHGA rate of $224/night plus tax.

Hotel information and online reservations are available on the meeting Web page, which also features a preliminary schedule and other meeting information. If you have any trouble accessing the meeting Web page, please contact Dan Hicks at [email protected] or 703.787.4112. If you have any questions about the MPC meeting, contact Sean McKenna at [email protected] or 703.787.4106.

NAIC Winter National Meeting Recap

The December 2008 National Association of Insurance Commissioners Winter National Meeting addressed a number of guaranty association-related activities, including a new Guaranty Association Model Act and possible alternative methods for restructuring troubled companies.

The Financial (E) Committee voted to approve the revised version of the Life and Health Insurance Guaranty Association Model Act previously recommended by the Model Act Revision Working Group and the Receivership and Insolvency Task Force. It is anticipated that the NAIC Executive Committee and Plenary will vote on the final approval of the revised Model Act at the NAIC Spring Meeting in March 2009.

In addition, the NAIC's Restructuring Mechanisms for Troubled Companies Subgroup released a first draft of its whitepaper analyzing various aspects of alternative restructuring mechanisms for financially troubled companies. The draft incorporates discussion of five "alternative" restructuring mechanisms that are currently available in the United States or abroad. These include: (1) runoff practices being used for existing blocks in the United States today; (2) New York's Regulation 141 Reinsurance Commutation Plans; (3) the yet-untested Rhode Island restructuring statute; (4) U.K. Schemes of Arrangement; and (5) U.K. Part VII Portfolio Transfers (which utilize court-ordered novations to facilitate transfers and consolidations over objections of policyholders). The draft whitepaper is not yet complete, and the subgroup is not exposing this draft for comments, but the subgroup is seeking input from its members and interested parties to flesh out various sections of the report. The subgroup plans to reconvene via conference call in February 2009 to continue working on the draft.