MetLife's Henrikson to Speak at Annual Meeting

C. Robert (Rob) Henrikson, chairman of the board of directors, president, and CEO of MetLife, Inc., will speak at NOLHGA's 23rd Annual Meeting, which will be held October 10 and 11, 2006, in Dana Point, Calif. He is tentatively scheduled to speak on October 10.

With nearly $45 billion in 2005 annual revenue, the global insurance and financial services company MetLife ranks 35th on the Fortune 500®. Mr. Henrikson was appointed CEO of the company in March 2006 and chairman of the board in April 2006. He has overseen all the company's revenue-generating businesses since becoming president and COO in June 2004. Over the past four years, MetLife achieved an increase in operating earnings available to common shareholders from $1.7 billion to $3.3 billion in 2005. During the same period, the company's operating return on common equity rose to 14.4%.

Mr. Henrikson is regularly called upon to testify before and advise members of Congress on retirement-related issues. In 2002, he served as a delegate to the U.S. Department of Labor's National Summit on Retirement Savings. Most recently, he has provided direction to U.S. senators and other congressional leaders to better inform the Social Security and corporate pension debates. He served as an active member of the Committee for Economic Development's Subcommittee on Social Security Reform and as a member of the Center for Strategic and International Studies's Commission on Global Aging. He is frequently quoted in the press about retirement and insurance issues and trends, including CNBC, Newsweek, Time, and The Wall Street Journal.

NOLHGA's 23rd Annual Meeting will be hosted by the Laguna Cliffs Marriott Resort & Spa, a four-diamond resort located on the cliffs of the Pacific coast. An MPC meeting will be held in conjunction with the Annual Meeting on October 9. More information on the Annual Meeting and MPC meeting can be found at the joint meeting Web page.

  Staff Contact - Sean McKenna National Affiliated Investors Life Insurance Company (La.)

Final Plan of Distribution and Dissolution Approved

On July 10, 2006, the Ninth Judicial District Court in Louisiana approved the receiver's Final Plan of Distribution and Dissolution for National Affiliated. The receiver prepared the petition requesting court approval and the plan itself in consultation with NOLHGA representatives. No objections were filed during the hearing held on the same day. Final payments to affected guaranty associations of the estate's assets are expected to be made within 45 days, or near the end of August/early September. Guaranty associations will receive slightly under $1.2 million as a final estate distribution. Copies of the petition and final order were e-mailed to affected guaranty associations on July 24.

Task Force Chair - Chuck Gullickson;   Staff Contact - Paul Peterson

NCOIL Opposes Proposed IRMA-based Accreditation Standards

In December 2005, the NAIC adopted a new model receivership act that has been designated the Insurer Receivership Model Act ("IRMA"). Since that time, the NAIC's Law and Intergovernmental Working Group has been working to develop recommendations regarding provisions of the new model to be considered for inclusion in a new IRMA-based accreditation standard. The NAIC has received multiple comment letters from trade and industry representatives, including the ACLI, NOLHGA, NCIGF, and others, arguing against extension of the accreditation program to incorporate IRMA. Discussion and debate on the merits of an IRMA-based accreditation standard were expressly deferred for later consideration by the Financial Regulation Standards and Accreditation (F) Committee.

In the meantime, the working group has developed a draft of a proposed standard that identifies approximately 40 provisions of the new receivership model that may be recommended as the minimum requirements for effective management of multi-state receiverships, or which must be present for a state to have a functioning receivership system. The group hopes to finalize the proposed standard within the next two weeks.

During the week of July 16, 2006, the National Conference of Insurance Legislators (NCOIL) addressed its concerns with respect to the proposed IRMA-based accreditation standard. At its July meeting, NCOIL adopted a resolution opposing NAIC efforts to incorporate a requirement that states enact IRMA provisions as an additional state accreditation standard. NCOIL objects to the imposition of IRMA-based accreditation standards on several grounds. As reflected in the NCOIL resolution, receivership statutes are described as being beyond the scope of the state accreditation program because they are not directly related to solvency surveillance, which is the purpose of that program. NCOIL also asserts that a functioning receivership system exists under current state laws and that the impact of IRMA on consumers and industry is unknown. The resolution goes on to state that responsibility for establishing public policies governing the business of insurance and protection of policyholders lies with the state legislatures, and that targeted, state-initiated improvements to existing receivership laws will serve policyholders, guaranty associations, creditors, and the public better than imposition of a newly developed, controversial, and untested statutory receivership scheme on all states.

A copy of the NCOIL resolution has been provided to the NAIC.

  Staff Contact - Joni Forsythe