McPeak Joins NOLHGA Board

Julie Mix McPeak, Senior Vice President & General Counsel – Insurance at USAA (San Antonio, Texas) and former Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance (2011–2019), was elected to the NOLHGA Board of Directors on February 14, 2024, to fill a Board vacancy.

McPeak serves as primary insurance counsel at USAA (a Fortune 100 company). She manages a legal team that provides support on products, pricing, underwriting, reinsurance, financial analysis, regulatory affairs, corporate governance, and risk management. She supervises a team of 55 professionals and manages an annual $20 million budget. Before joining USAA, she spent two years with Root Insurance, Inc. (Columbus, Ohio) as Senior Deputy General Counsel – Insurance Regulatory. She was also the Founding Shareholder of the Nashville office of Greenberg Traurig, LLP.

McPeak served as President of the NAIC in 2018 and held other executive roles before then. She also served as the Executive Director of the Kentucky Office of Insurance from 2006–2007 after spending several years with the Office as Counsel and General Counsel. She served as Vice-Chair of the Executive Committee of the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) from 2016–2020 and also served on the Federal Advisory Committee on Insurance from 2014–2016. She currently serves on the Federal Reserve Board Insurance Policy Advisory Committee, which she chaired from 2019–2020.

  Staff Contact - Sean McKenna

NAIC Releases 2024 Strategic Priorities, Considers Asset Adequacy Testing for Ceded Reinsurance

On February 13, 2024, the NAIC released its list of strategic priorities for 2024. These priorities include:

• Climate Risks/Natural Catastrophes & Resilience: Mitigation, consumer education, and closely working together remain central to tackling the threat posed by increased climate risks. The NAIC’s proposed National Climate Resilience Strategy for Insurance provides for a unified approach, data collection and utilization, and resiliency actions, including the launch of a comprehensive NAIC Climate Risk Dashboard to measure and evaluate protection gaps.
  
• Insurer Financial Oversight & Transparency: Aiming to enhance oversight and adapt to evolving investment strategies, the NAIC’s “Framework for Insurer Investment Regulation” will reduce reliance on credit rating providers and modernize the role of the NAIC’s Securities Valuation Office.
  
• Marketing of Insurance Products: State insurance regulators will once again take a multipronged approach to protecting consumers from deceptive and misleading insurance marketing. In addition to coordinating with Congress and federal agencies, state insurance regulators will strengthen information sharing among their departments and develop a tool hosted at www.naic.org for consumers to check insurance producers’ licenses, with additional information available on state insurance department websites.
  
• Race & Insurance, Financial Inclusion & Protection Gaps: These interrelated, multifaceted issues span personal, political, and public policy realms as they affect consumers, insurance regulation, and the industry. Dedicated to leading in each of these critical areas, the NAIC will continue to identify related issues in 2024, focus on closing protection gaps and widening financial inclusion, receive updates, and recommend statutory or regulatory changes.
  
• Use of AI by Insurers & Cyber Risk: The rapid development and use of artificial intelligence and other technologies create opportunity but also raise key questions regarding consumer privacy, cyber risk, carrier needs and capabilities, and the complexity of the regulatory landscape. The NAIC’s Innovation, Cybersecurity, and Technology (H) Committee positions the organization on the front lines of this field.

In other news, during a recent meeting, the NAIC’s Life Actuarial Task Force (LATF) discussed a proposal requiring companies to perform asset adequacy analysis (AAA) on ceded reinsurance using a cash flow testing methodology on both a line-of-business and treaty level. Proponents of the proposal emphasized that it is needed to give regulators comfort that assets supporting ceded business are adequate. The AAA requirement on ceded business was included in the initial draft of Actuarial Guideline 53 but was removed to facilitate adoption in 2022.

A variety of views—both for and against the proposal—were heard during the meeting. The draft proposal was expected to be shared in advance of the LATF’s February 15 call, and task force members explained that there would be ample opportunity for discussion and engagement.

  Staff Contact - Sean McKenna