Posted: 7/2/2012

Missouri: Farm Mutual Reinsurance Regulation Officially Adopted

NAMIC's state trade advocacy partners the Missouri Association of Mutual Insurance Companies and the Missouri Insurance Coalition report that the July 2 edition of the Missouri Register contains the officially adopted version of the revised farm mutual reinsurance regulation.

After the regulation was proposed this spring, NAMIC requested the opinion of members. The feedback was developed into suggestions that were made at the hearing. As the summary of comments published in the July 2 order by the Department of Insurance, Financial Institutions and Professional Registration indicates, the regulators listened and made three substantive changes to the proposed rule. They are:

• The reinsurance required is reduced to the amount needed to cover 20 percent (instead of 15 percent) of the maximum annual loss of surplus, thereby lessening the premium expenditure and increasing availability;

• The effective date of the rule is pushed back to January 1, 2013, in order to make it consistent with industry practices and to allow sufficient time for implementation; and

• There is more detail provided in the section that allows the regulator to grant an exception to the reinsurance requirement or to allow a conditional exception based on compliance with other financial requirements.

NAMIC appreciates the many suggestions and insights that were made by the farm mutual community during the rulemaking process. We understand that there will be issues that arise during implementation and we stand reading to work with MAMIC and the state's farm mutuals to address them with the regulators.

In addition, MAMIC has announced that there will be a class on this issue at its upcoming Mid-Year Conference on July 10-11 in Jefferson City. See http://www.mamic.net/ for information.

Contact: Mark Johnston
State Affairs Manager
mjohnston@namic.org
314.800.8205