Treasury to Defer Data Collection from Insurance Industry to NAIC
In a reversal, Treasury’s Federal Insurance Office will defer to National Association of Insurance Commissioners on climate-related data collection
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Department of Treasury’s Federal Insurance Office today reversed course, and instead of moving forward with its collection of data, it would accept an anonymized subset of the data collected by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC). The announcement is a surprise reversal from Treasury’s finalization of the call for data in November. Carly Fabian, insurance policy advocate with Public Citizen’s Climate Program, issued the following statement:
“As more and more people lose insurance coverage, it’s becoming clearer that climate change is generating systemic risks in insurance markets across the country. For financial regulators, comprehensive, granular data is key to understanding the localized and nation-wide risks posed by impacts caused by climate change.
“While anecdotal data, voluntary industry surveys, and data from last-resort programs have effectively raised the alarm, these have not painted a full picture, and selective disclosures from insurers can just as easily be used to exploit a crisis as they can to solve it. The success of NAIC’s efforts, and Treasury’s reliance on them, hinges on an accessible data source that is updated regularly with data from every state. The NAIC’s foot-dragging on addressing the risks posed by climate change, and its cozy relationship with the industry should raise concerns about the likelihood it will provide federal financial regulators, researchers, and the public with all the necessary data.”
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