NAIC (National Association of Insurance Commissioners)

Concept

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) is the standard-setting and coordinating body for state insurance regulators in the United States. Because insurance regulation in the United States has historically been organized at the state level and no single unified federal regulator exists, the NAIC performs a central role in harmonizing and coordinating supervisory practice across jurisdictions.

Functions and Instruments

Core functions of the NAIC include developing model laws and model regulations that individual states may voluntarily adopt into their own state law, coordinating financial stability analysis and solvency monitoring through its own risk-based capital framework, and operating central databases on market conduct, financial metrics, and complaints regarding insurance companies.

Relevance in an International Context

At the international level, the NAIC represents the interests of US insurance regulators before global standard-setting bodies such as the IAIS and plays a significant role in the development and assessment of international capital standards such as the Insurance Capital Standard (ICS), with the United States traditionally pursuing its own regulatory capital architecture that differs from the European Solvency II model.