Insurance Regulation
Quarles & Brady LLP is well positioned to meet the special regulatory needs of insurers as well as their general business concerns. We have the business law background an insurer looks for when seeking assistance with transactions, employment issues, government relations, and the like. However, we are also at home in the regulator's office, and our insurance company clients need not seek special counsel when problems arise in that arena. The Firm’s insurance law attorneys have years of experience with the business of insurance, and our Madison office is just a short walk from the Commissioner’s office — a walk we make frequently.
Insurance Law Services
Our services in the insurance area include the following:
- Insurance company formation, capitalization, licensing, acquisition, merger and liquidation.
- Holding company regulation, including liability of directors and officers, change of control, and reporting and approval of dividends and other affiliate transactions.
- Financial regulation, including compulsory and security surplus, risk-based capital, qualifying and prohibited investments, valuation of assets, reserve requirements and annual reports.
- Reinsurance transactions, including drafting issues, qualifying reinsurance, arbitration, letters of credit and other security.
- Marketing issues, such as rate regulation, agent contracts, licensing and compensation and unfair marketing practices.
- Policy form revisions and filings.
- Regulatory relations, including audits and examinations, rate and form filings, administrative lobbying and enforcement actions.
- Special issues facing managed care organizations and other health care plans, including reform initiatives, business plan filings, provider contracts, coverage mandates, HIPAA, ERISA and COBRA.
Regulatory Issues
The business and regulatory environment for insurance companies is constantly changing, and part of our client service involves staying on top of those changes. One way we do this is to attend meetings of the industry-regulator liaison committees sponsored by the Wisconsin Office of the Commissioner of Insurance for life, health, and property and casualty insurance. Our reports from the most recent meetings can be found here, and reports from past meetings follow: