Financial Standards and Accreditation (F) Committee
March 29, 2008

The Financial Regulation Standards and Accreditation (F) Committee met on Saturday, March 29, 2008. During this meeting, the Committee:

• Voted to adopt immediately by reference revisions that were made during 2007 to various publications that are required for accreditation purposes (i.e., the Annual Statement Blanks and Instructions; Life and P/C RBC Formulas; the Purposes & Procedures Manual of the SVO; the Accounting Practices & Procedures Manual; and the Financial Condition Examiners Handbook). These revisions were considered insignificant by the task force or working group responsible for these publications.
• Voted to update the exposed version of the Insurer Receivership Model Act (IRMA). The 2005 version of IRMA was exposed for comment on January 1, 2008, but further revisions were made to the model during 2007. Section 801 was revised and addresses the priority status of claims made during receivership proceedings under warranties and policies of mortgage guaranty and financial guaranty insurance. A new Section 712 was added, which addresses large deductible insurance policies. The current accreditation requirement requires states to have a receivership scheme, rather than having language that is substantially similar to the model. Because of this, these revisions are not considered significant for accreditation purposes, and the exposed model will simply be updated for the 2007 revisions. The comment period will still end on December 31, 2008.
• Discussed a referral from the Financial Examiners Handbook (E) Technical Group in which the Committee was asked to provide guidance on certain situations that may occur when the work of a lead state is relied upon.
• Voted to adopt a "Question and Answer" document that will be included in the Accreditation Interlineations and will clarify certain elements of the new Review Team Guidelines used with examinations conducted under the new risk-focused surveillance approach. At its December 2, 2007, meeting, the Committee voted to adopt revisions to the Review Team Guidelines for those examinations performed under the new approach. During the discussions that took place, it was noted that a significant comment letter had been received from the accreditation review team members. This comment letter was forwarded to the Risk Assessment Working Group for its consideration. Some of the team members' comments resulted in further revisions to the Review Team Guidelines, while others did not. For those comments that did not result in changes to the Review Team Guidelines, the Risk Assessment Working Group provided its rationale, and it is this information that is included in the Question and Answer document.

Action Items:

1. Voted to adopt immediately by reference revisions that were made during 2007 to various publications that are required for accreditation purposes (i.e., the Annual Statement Blanks and Instructions; Life and P/C RBC Formulas; the Purposes & Procedures Manual of the SVO; the Accounting Practices & Procedures Manual; and the Financial Condition Examiners Handbook).

2. Voted to update the exposed version of the Insurer Receivership Model Act from the 2005 version to the 2007 version.

3. Voted to adopt a "Question and Answer" document that will be included in the Accreditation Interlineations and will clarify certain elements of the new Review Team Guidelines that will be used with examinations conducted under the new risk-focused surveillance approach.