Past NAIC President Hamm Will Not Run for Third Term as North Dakota Commissioner
December 17, 2015 by Thomas Harman, Washington Bureau manager, BestWeek: Tom.Harman@ambest.com
BISMARCK, N.D. – North Dakota Insurance Commissioner Adam Hamm, a past president of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, will not run for a third full term in 2016.
“After careful consideration, I have decided not to run for a third term as North Dakota insurance commissioner,” he said in a statement released by the state Republican Party. “I am deeply appreciative to the people of North Dakota for all their support over the years, and to the outstanding team at the Insurance Department.”
Hamm told Best’s News Service in an email he has not lined up any plans for the future beyond serving out his term, which will end Jan. 31, 2017.
In the fall of 2007, Hamm was asked by then-Gov. John Hoeven to fill out the remainder of the term of Commissioner Jim Poolman, who unexpectedly resigned to begin a consulting business. He was re-elected to a first full term in 2008 by less than 2,000 votes over Democrat Jasper Schneider. But in 2012 he defeated Democrat Tom Potter with more than 63% of the vote, running on increasing competition in the state insurance market.
Hamm said his biggest accomplishments while in office have been bringing more choice and competition to the state’s health insurance market, providing more than $40 million in consumer relief to state residents, and in being a national leader in insurance regulation as NAIC president and currently as chairman of the NAIC Cybersecurity Task Force.
Hamm served as NAIC president during 2014, a year in which the group adopted a XXX/AXXX reinsurance framework that changed the types of assets and securities needed to back those reserve liabilities. The NAIC under his watch also adopted the Revised Insurance Holding Company System Regulatory Act, which outlined the process for determining lead states for domestic insurance groups and outlined activities commissioners can engage in as group-wide supervisors.
Hamm told Best’s News Service he plans on completing his two-year appointment as the state insurance commissioner’s representative on the Treasury Department’s Financial Stability Oversight Council, a term ending in September 2016. As a non-voting FSOC member, Hamm objected to the FSOC’s decision to make MetLife Inc. a systemically important financial institution that is subject to greater oversight than smaller insurers. He said in recent testimony the FSOC failed to acknowledge the strengths of state-based insurance regulation and the FSOC did not conduct a robust analysis of MetLife in making its decision.
The NAIC’s Cybersecurity Task Force’s work during the past year has been closely watched by the insurance industry. The group has approved a cybersecurity framework that urged state insurance regulators to provide appropriate regulatory oversight, including risk-based financial exams and market conduct exams regarding cybersecurity.
