Ranking Member Tim Scott has expressed approval of the International Association of Insurance Supervisors' (IAIS) recent decision to acknowledge the U.S. state-based insurance regulatory system. This recognition includes accepting existing capital requirement models as comparable to international standards, a move Scott has been advocating for since November 2019.
Scott, who previously worked as an insurance agent, stated, "The U.S. state-based insurance regulation system has resulted in highly competitive, fair markets across the country for decades and our state insurance regulators – not bureaucrats in Washington or international bodies – are best positioned to oversee insurers and safeguard the interests of consumers. After over five years of pushing the International Association of Insurance Supervisors to recognize our system as comparable to the Insurance Capital Standard, I’m thrilled to see an outcome that will protect American insurers and consumers."
In November 2019, Scott led a bipartisan group of 29 colleagues in writing a letter to then-U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. The letter urged U.S. representatives at IAIS to establish a clear path for formally recognizing the U.S. insurance regulatory system as "comparable" or "outcome equivalent" to the Insurance Capital Standard (ICS). This initiative followed a Senate Banking Committee hearing in September 2019 on global developments in insurance regulation where Scott encouraged rejection of ICS adoption if it did not recognize the comparability of the U.S. industry.