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Insurance Update

Regulatory Update: National Association of Insurance Commissioners Spring 2025 National Meeting

May 7, 2025
The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) held its Spring 2025 National Meeting (Spring Meeting) March 23–26, 2026. This Sidley Update summarizes the highlights from this meeting in addition to interim meetings held in lieu of taking place during the Spring Meeting. Highlights include continued development of guidance on asset adequacy testing for reinsurance transactions, efforts to develop revisions to the Long-Term Care Insurance Multistate Rate Review Framework, and consideration of amendments to the NAIC’s Purposes and Procedures Manual regarding private letter rating rationale reports.

1. NAIC Task Force to Finalize Actuarial Guideline on Asset Adequacy Testing for Reinsurance

At the Spring Meeting, the Life Actuarial (A) Task Force (LATF) released its latest exposure draft of the Actuarial Guideline for Reinsurance Asset Adequacy Testing (AAT Guideline). Once adopted, the AAT Guideline will require asset adequacy testing for certain reinsurance transactions. The AAT Guideline is intended to enhance reserve adequacy requirements for life insurers engaging in long-duration reinsurance business that relies heavily on asset returns (referred to in the draft AAT Guideline as “asset-intensive business”). The AAT Guideline is intended to address regulatory concerns that U.S. life insurers may be entering into reinsurance transactions that materially lower the total asset requirement (the sum of reserves and capital) in support of their asset-intensive business and thereby facilitate capital releases that prejudice the interests of policyholders. The AAT Guideline is therefore intended to address sufficiency of reserves and the quality of assets supporting such asset-intensive reinsurance transactions and provide U.S. state regulators with the ability to have more transparency into reserves and assets supporting ceded business.

2. NAIC Continues Efforts to Amend the Long-Term Care Insurance Multistate Rate Review Framework

The NAIC is continuing efforts to amend the long-term care insurance (LTCI) multistate rate review framework (MSA Framework) to (a) limit the MSA Framework to a single rate review methodology (based on the Minnesota approach and removing references to the Texas approach) and (b) update the cost-sharing formula that increases the insurer burden with cumulative rate increases. During the December 18, 2024, meeting of the Long-Term Care Insurance (B) Task Force, the task force adopted the Minnesota approach as the single rate review approach to be used in the MSA Framework. However, due to a lack of consensus on the revised cost-sharing formula that was adopted by the Long-Term Care Actuarial (B) Working Group in 2024, the task force decided to send the cost-sharing issue back to the working group to develop revisions to the formula that have greater consensus among working group members. Although presented for consideration at the Spring National Meeting, the Health Insurance and Managed Care (B) Committee (B Committee) declined to adopt the changes to limit the MSA Framework to a single rate review methodology because new committee members had not had time to adequately review the revisions and because the committee felt the revisions were incomplete without the final cost-sharing formula.

3. NAIC Activities Regarding Prescription Drug Coverage and Pharmacy Benefit Management

The NAIC implemented changes to its activities regarding prescription drug coverage and pharmacy benefit management. Specifically, the NAIC (i) changed the name of its Pharmaceutical Benefit Management Regulatory Issues (B) Working Group to the Prescription Drug Coverage (B) Working Group, which is focused on prescription drug coverage issues, and (ii) established a new Pharmacy Benefit Management (D) Working Group focused on pharmacy benefit management enforcement issues.

4. NAIC Takes Action Regarding Various Investment-Monitoring Activities

During the Spring Meeting, the Valuation of Securities Task Force (VOS Task Force) exposed amendments to the Purposes and Procedures Manual (P&P Manual) to require that (i) private rating letter rationale reports be filed within 90 days of an affirmation, update, or change, and (ii) private rating letter rationale reports possess analytical substance. The VOS Task Force also heard an update on the status of the collateralized loan obligation (CLO) modeling project. In addition, the Risk-Based Capital Investment Risk and Evaluation (E) Working Group (RBCIRE Working Group) received an update on the progress of updating the risk-based capital (RBC) treatment for certain bond funds.

5. NAIC Progresses Revisions to Statements of Statutory Accounting Principles

At the Spring Meeting, the Statutory Accounting Principles (E) Working Group (SAP Working Group) (i) adopted clarifications to statutory accounting guidance to: (x) require restricted asset disclosure for modified coinsurance (Modco) and funds withheld (FWH) assets reported within a ceding company’s financial statements and (y) provide granular reporting lines for collateral loans and (ii) exposed the following SAP concepts and clarifications to statutory accounting guidance: (x) revisions to expand the restricted assets reporting to capture information on Modco and FWH assets that are related to the reinsurer and to require the disclosure in all quarterly and annual financial statements and (y) revisions to the annual statement blanks to capture information on Modco/FWH assets. The SAP Working Group also directed NAIC staff to research possible guidance for certain nonaccounting effective derivatives to defer realized gains and losses, consider the use of Delaware statutory trusts to hold residential mortgage loans, and develop revisions to clarify guidance for securities lending, repurchase, and reverse repurchase agreements. Finally, the SAP Working Group received an update on the work of the IMR Ad Hoc Group.

6. NAIC Provides Updates on Holistic Framework for Insurer Investments

The Financial Condition (E) Committee (E Committee) provided updates on the implementation of its Framework for Regulation of Insurer Investments — A Holistic Review (Investment Framework), an updated draft of which was exposed in August 2024. Updates included NAIC progress toward hiring a consultant to develop a due diligence framework for CRPs, proposed changes to the E Committee’s subcommittee structure, and the formation of the RBC Model Governance (EX) Task Force.

7. NAIC Revisits Limitations on Disclosure of RBC

In April 2024, the Capital Adequacy (E) Task Force (CATF) released a draft proposal that would revise the RBC Preamble, a document that describes the purpose of RBC, how it is calculated, and how it helps regulators identify companies with inadequate capital levels. While the RBC Preamble currently provides limits on the public use of RBC, the proposal would, among other things, delineate additional examples of prohibited public disclosure of RBC levels “including but not limited to, press releases, earnings releases, webcast materials, or any other earnings presentations or webcasts.” This proposal conflicts with historical disclosure practices and certain accounting and regulatory requirements relevant to insurance companies. Based on feedback from interested parties on these existing practices, in June 2024, CATF postponed further exposure of the RBC Preamble revisions. However, at the Spring Meeting, CATF re-exposed the proposal with modifications based on comments previously received.

8. NAIC to Develop Updates to Regulatory Framework for the Use of Artificial Intelligence Systems

At the Spring Meeting, the Big Data and Artificial Intelligence (H) Working Group discussed its next steps with regard to the regulatory framework for the use of artificial intelligence (AI) systems, including the development of AI risk evaluation tools and enhancing regulatory oversight and accountability.

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