US insurance regulators ride the fence, won't commit on ESG

US insurance regulators won't dip their toes into the political battles over ESG, and will refrain from either supporting or banning ESG policies in the industry they supervise. 

“The NAIC does not anticipate developing regulatory policy to require or prohibit insurance companies from adopting ESG policies that govern insurers’ underwriting, investing, or other business decisions,” the US association of state insurance regulators NAIC said in a statement on policy. 

Existing oversight on climate risk, race and insurance, corporate governance, and other factors will remain firmly in place “to the extent they directly pertain to our responsibility to protect policyholders and supervise the financial health of insurers.”

Any firms or stakeholders who wish to nonetheless hold themselves or the industry up to such standards are advised to consider “the reliability of metrics” and the eventual impact on industry financial conditions and insurance availability and affordability, the NAIC noted. 

The policy statement, carefully worded by any measure, follows a rise in activism on both sides of the issue across US jurisdictions. Political and shareholder activism would alternatively ensconce or ban ESG policy from legal and corporate statutes. 

Member state insurance commissioners were said to have adopted the position unanimously.

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