The New York State Insurance Department (NYSID) was the state agency responsible for supervising and regulating all

insurance Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to hedge ...

business in

New York State New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. stat ...

. istory, About Us, New York State Department of Financial Services, retrieved on March 5, 2012, at http://www.dfs.ny.gov/about/history.htm New York State Department of Financial Services website/ref> It was regarded in the industry as one of the most state-of-the-art insurance regulatory agencies. Effective October 3, 2011, Governor

Andrew Cuomo Andrew Mark Cuomo ( ; ; born December 6, 1957) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 56th governor of New York from 2011 to 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected to the same position that his father, Mario Cuo ...

and the

New York State Legislature The New York State Legislature consists of the two houses that act as the state legislature of the U.S. state of New York: The New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly. The Constitution of New York does not designate an official ...

consolidated the New York State Insurance Department and the New York State Banking Department and created the New York State Department of Financial Services.Part A of Chapter 62 of the Laws of 2011

History

Until 1849, insurance companies doing business in New York State were chartered by special acts of the

. In 1849, the Legislature passed a law requiring prospective insurance companies to file incorporation papers with the New York Secretary of State. The law also vested regulatory power over insurance companies with the State Comptroller, who was authorized to require the companies to submit annual financial statements and to deny a company the right to operate if capital securities and investments did not remain secure. In 1859, the

created the New York State Insurance Department, and assumed the functions of the Comptroller and Secretary of State relating to insurance. The department began operations in 1860 and William F. Barnes was the first Superintendent of Insurance. The

Home Life Insurance Company The Phoenix Companies, Inc., is a financial services company that traces its origins to 1851. Phoenix was acquired bNassau Financial Groupin 2016 and remains headquartered in Hartford, Connecticut, with 650 employees as of 2015. Phoenix remains o ...

based in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

was the first life insurer to be authorized by the newly formed New York State Insurance Department in 1860. Superintendent Barnes supervised the filings of 155 fire insurance companies and 16 life insurance companies during his first year in office. By the 1870s, each state regulated insurance in some manner and most had an insurance department or agency. However, because different state requirements led to confusion in the insurance industry, New York State Superintendent George W. Miller, in 1871, invited the heads of insurance departments or agencies from other states to meet in New York to strive for more uniform regulation. Eighteen states met that year for the first session of what is now the

National Association of Insurance Commissioners The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) is the U.S. standard-setting and regulatory support organization created and governed by the chief insurance regulators from the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and five U.S. territo ...

("NAIC"). Mismanagement in the life insurance business, including exorbitant salaries and questionable investments, resulted in a 1905 investigation led by Charles Evans Hughes. The investigation, known as the "

Armstrong Investigation The Armstrong Committee, formally the Joint Committee of the Senate and Assembly of the State of New York to Investigate and Examine into the Business and Affairs of Life Insurance Companies Doing Business in the State of New York was an investigat ...

", led to the passage of a law that set forth a series of reforms, including mandatory periodic examinations of all life insurers. During the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

, the Insurance Department promoted new rules clarifying insurer investment requirements, setting more equitable determination of cash surrender values and forfeitures, and recognizing up-to-date values and improvements in mortality tables. They also carried out liquidations, such as the 1934 liquidation of the Consolidated Indemnity and Insurance Company. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the Insurance Department pioneered many consumer protections, including comprehensive mandated health insurance benefits, open enrollment, and prohibitions against insurers arbitrarily dropping an individual's health insurance coverage. The New York State Insurance Department was the first insurance department or agency in the United States to establish a capital markets group to examine and measure the risks in insurer investment practices, and was the first state to recognize the importance of segregating multiple lines insurance from financial guaranty insurance as a means of preventing systemic risk. In 2001, New York was the first state to establish an Insurance Emergency Operations Center ("IEOC"), which was designed to accelerate disaster assessments and expedite claims payments to disaster victims. The IEOC helped New Yorkers recover from the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. During the financial crisis of 2008, the Insurance Department helped stabilize financial guaranty insurers and worked with federal regulators to ensure that AIG did not collapse when it experienced a liquidity crisis. In 2011, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the

consolidated the New York State Insurance Department and the New York State Banking Department and created the New York State Department of Financial Services. James J. Wrynn was the fortieth and last Superintendent of Insurance.James J. Wrynn, Deputy Superintendent of Financial Services, Leadership, About Us, New York State Department of Financial Services, retrieved on March 5, 2012, at http://www.dfs.ny.gov/about/staff_bios/jwrynn.htm Following the creation of the New York Department of Financial Services Benjamin Lawsky (2011–2015) and Maria Vullo (2016--) were each appointed and confirmed as Superintendent of Financial Services thereby assuming the powers and duties formerly held by the Superintendent of Insurance.

List of Superintendents

References

{{Authority control Defunct state agencies of New York (state) 1860 establishments in New York (state) Government agencies established in 1860 2011 disestablishments in New York (state) Government agencies disestablished in 2011 Insurance in the United States