Acting Commissioner David Parsons today hosted a meeting of the domestic insurance companies, statewide agent associations and other interested parties at the Capital City Club in Montgomery. The topic of the meeting, sponsored by the Association of Alabama Life Insurance Companies, was the new Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, also known as the Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999, and its effect on the business of insurance.
Attendees were welcomed to Montgomery by Jim Hayes, Senior Advisor to Governor Siegelman. Arkansas Insurance Commissioner Mike Pickens presented a slide show discussing the market forces which brought about the new federal act, including uniformity in licensing among the states and other issues relating to national treatment in the regulation of the business of insurance. South Carolina Insurance Commissioner Ernst Csiszar spoke on the dynamics of change in all aspects of life, including the insurance industry. Joe McCorkle and Lois Woodward of the Balch & Bingham law firm presented a segment regarding the new requirements relating to privacy under the new act.
Commissioner Parsons expressed appreciation to all eighty attendees and encouraged a continued dialogue in the preparation of the Insurance Department’s legislative initiatives for the 2001 Legislature. He plans to appoint an industry advisory committee in the next few weeks to finalize the details of all proposed legislation.