Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of New York, Inc.

Administration of New Dept. of Financial Services Takes Shape with Gov.'s Nomination
(May 16, 2011) — Gov. Andrew Cuomo's nomination of Ben Lawsky as superintendent of the state's new Department of Financial Services will go Wednesday before the Senate Banking Committee. If Lawsky's nomination wins Senate confirmation, he'll be joined by current Supt. of Insurance James Wrynn, who was nominated today by Gov. Cuomo to serve as Deputy Superintendent of the new agency, which combines the state banking and insurance departments.

While Wrynn is familiar to most working in the state insurance industry because of his role as New York's top insurance regulator, Lawsky is currently Cuomo's chief of staff. He previously served as Deputy Counselor and Special Assistant throughout the administration of then-Attorney General Cuomo. Previously, Lawsky served more than five years as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York, where he prosecuted securities fraud, organized crime and terrorism cases. Lawsky also served as Chief Counsel to Sen. Charles Schumer on the Senate Judiciary Committee and as a trial attorney in the Civil Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.

Before his tenure as New York's Supt. of Insurance, Wrynn spent 25 years as a trial attorney focusing in the areas of life, accident and health insurance, property and casualty insurance, general liability insurance, insurance coverage disputes, professional malpractice, and product liability.

Gov. Cuomo proposed and the State Legislature approved the Department of Financial Services through merging the state Banking and Insurance departments as part of the 2011-12 budget. The DFS is designed, according to the Cuomo administration, to better regulate modern financial services organizations. By combining the two departments into a unified financial regulator, the governor is hoping the DFS will be a more efficient, modern and comprehensive regulator of the financial sector. IIABNY is closely monitoring development of the department, which is scheduled to begin operating in October.

Top of page

Wrynn Nominated to be NY Insurance Superintendent
(Aug. 14, 2009) — New York Gov. David A. Paterson has nominated James J. Wrynn to succeed Eric Dinallo as superintendent of insurance. Wrynn will assume the title of superintendent-designate on August 20.

A former trial attorney, Wrynn has litigated cases focused on insurance issues and claims on behalf of insurers, policyholders, municipalities, and public authorities. He has expertise in insurance, accounting and tax issues. Since May, he has served as executive director of the New York State Insurance Fund.

A graduate of St. John's University College of Business Administration and St. John's University School of Law, Wrynn holds the Associates in Risk Management and Associates in Captive Insurance designation. His appointment is subject to confirmation by the New York State Senate.

Report Says Brooks To Be Interim Insurance Superintendent
(July 1, 2009) — New York Deputy Superintendent of Insurance Kermitt J. Brooks will be appointed as interim superintendent of insurance, IIABNY has learned. The announcement came today at a farewell luncheon for outgoing superintendent Eric Dinallo.

Dinallo, who assumed the superintendent's position in 2007, is resigning effective July 3 to take a position with New York University. Gov. David Paterson has not yet nominated a successor. Brooks will serve as interim superintendent until a permanent replacement is nominated and confirmed by the New York State Senate.

IIABNY’s Poppa Meets With NY Insurance Chief Dinallo
(May 15, 2008) — The deteriorating homeowners insurance market in the New York Metropolitan area dominated the discussion today as IIABNY President and CEO Dick Poppa sat down with state Insurance Superintendent Eric Dinallo. The two met for nearly an hour in downtown Syracuse. The exchange covered workers’ compensation issues, producer compensation disclosure, the governor’s blue-ribbon commission on financial modernization, and federal legislation to ease producer licensing procedures in all states. However, the coastal market situation accounted for the first half of the meeting. Poppa, who described the session as “productive,” emphasized the problems independent agents are facing when they try to place homeowners risks on Long Island, Westchester County and New York City. He reported that the superintendent took extensive notes and asked several follow-up questions.

IIABNY Officers, Staff Meet with Insurance Superintendent
(June 7, 2007) — The coastal homeowners insurance market and workers' compensation reform were the chief topics of conversation yesterday when representatives from IIABNY sat down for the first time with Eric Dinallo, New York's newly confirmed superintendent of insurance. A group including Chair of the Board Steve Zogby, Chair-elect Neil Sullivan, State National Director Steve Spiro, Tom Crowley of Maran Corporate Risk Associates in Southampton, Legislative Representative Michael Barrett, President and CEO Dick Poppa and Kathy Weinheimer, senior vice president of industry relations and education, represented IIABNY. They met with Dinallo for 90 minutes at the Insurance Department’s offices in New York City.

Problems with the homeowners insurance market in the New York metropolitan area dominated much of the session. The IIABNY representatives explained the need to grant permanent statutory authority to the New York Property Insurance Underwriting Association; importance of HO-3 equivalent wrap-around policies to market stability and the need for additional companies to offer such policies; necessity for modernizing rate and form review; why the Insurance Department should permit companies to use computerized catastrophe modeling in setting rates and passing through some of their reinsurance costs; and the importance of automating and otherwise modernizing NYPIUA's Coastal Market Assistance Program or C-MAP. Dinallo was presented with information documenting the state of the coastal insurance market, including the results of an IIABNY member survey. At the request of the Insurance Department, IIABNY will also provide the results of a survey conducted last month about the use of wrap-around policies.

On the subject of producer compensation, IIABNY's representatives told the superintendent that the association supports measures that will result in a better-educated consumer but opposes extra paperwork and burdens that do not meet that goal. The group also presented Dinallo with a copy of IIABNY’s policy statement on the issue. The superintendent responded that the Insurance Department is in the process of developing its own policy; the group then asked for the opportunity to provide input as the policy is being prepared.

On other subjects, the group asked to have producer representation on the financial services commission Gov. Eliot Spitzer announced last week. A general discussion on implementing the new state workers' compensation reform law and reform of Labor Law sections 240 and 241 completed the meeting.

Meeting with Acting Insurance Supt. Postponed
(April 12, 2007) — A meeting planned this week between IIABNY's leadership team and Eric R. Dinallo, New York's acting superintendent of insurance, will be rescheduled. Dinallo, who is preparing for Senate confirmation hearings set to begin next week, asked that the meeting with IIABNY be postponed. According to Kathy Weinheimer, IIABNY's senior vice president of industry relations and education, the association's representatives will meet May 15 with Dinallo.

Coastal market issues, producer compensation and disclosure and the implementation of provisions in the New York workers' compensation reform law will be at the top of the agenda when the two sides meet. IIABNY members can e-mail Weinheimer specific questions on those three areas for consideration in the upcoming discussions with Dinallo.

Gov. Eliot Spitzer named Dinallo nearly four months ago as his choice to head the state Insurance Department. Previously, Dinallo was general counsel of Willis Group Holding Ltd. after serving four years as Spitzer's Chief of the Investment Protection Bureau in the attorney general's office.

Spitzer Names Former AG Staffer as Next Supt. of Insurance
(December 15, 2006) — Gov.-elect Eliot Spitzer officially announced his choice this morning to head the New York State Insurance Department under his incoming administration. Spitzer, who is currently state attorney general until he is sworn in as governor on Jan. 1, 2007, is nominating Eric R. Dinallo, general counsel of Willis Group Holding Ltd., to succeed Howard Mills as the next Superintendent of Insurance. Dinallo, before joining Willis and serving as a managing director and regulatory executive at Morgan Stanley, was Chief of Investment Protection Bureau in the attorney general's office from 1999 to 2003.

IIABNY looks forward to working with Dinallo and congratulates Spitzer for his swift action to fill such a crucial position in his administration.