Bipartisan group recommends OFC creation

WASHINGTON--Congress should create an optional federal charter for insurers, a bipartisan study group recommended Tuesday.

"The proposed optional federal charter will provide insurance companies with a regulatory option that allows them to avoid many of the costs and inefficiencies of a state-by-state system," said the Commission on the Regulation of U.S. Capital Markets in the 21st Century in its "2007 Report and Recommendations."

In addition, allowing insurers to choose federal rather than state regulation would "increase competitiveness within the insurance market and reduce costs for consumers, and provide insurance companies with a launch point from which they may compete more readily in the global market," the commission said in a statement.

The Washington-based U.S. Chamber of Commerce created the commission "to consider the appropriate legal and regulatory framework for the U.S. capital markets in the 21st century."

Its complete report is available at www.capitalmarketscommission.com.