Rep. Michael Oxley's recent acknowledgement that SOX is "excessive" in its regulation of public companies is another strike against extending its internal control provisions to mutual insurance companies, according to the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies (NAMIC).
In a letter to principal insurance regulators Tuesday, NAMIC Senior Vice President for State and Regulatory Affairs Roger H. Schmelzer wrote that Oxley's comments as reported in the Financial Times last month are "important and timely" as the NAIC-AICPA Working Group prepares to make its recommendations to a superior National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) committee.
Oxley was quoted as telling the International Corporate Governance Network in London last month that the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act passed to reform public company corporate accounting and governance practices was "excessive" due to the "hothouse atmosphere" that prevailed when the law was enacted. The FT article also reported that the congressman reaffirmed that the Act's purpose was to enhance "the strength of the U.S. capital markets" and saying that he would do things differently if he could re-write the law knowing what he knows now.
See full Press Release.
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