Inside the NAIC’s 2026 Agenda: Resilience, Capital, and AI Oversight

In this episode of the Global Regulatory Update podcast, the IIF’s Philippe Brahin, Director of Insurance and NBFI Regulation and Policy, speaks with Virginia Insurance Commissioner and newly elected President of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), Scott A. White, about the supervisory, macroprudential, and structural forces shaping U.S. insurance oversight in 2026. Commissioner White outlines the NAIC’s strategic priorities for the year ahead, including reinforcing resilience in the property and casualty market under growing climate related stress, managing increasingly complex investment risk profiles in the life sector, and navigating federal-state dynamics as Washington reconsiders its role in insurance policy. He connects these priorities to rising pressure around natural catastrophe losses, digital transformation, operational risks, and the continued evolution of insurer balance sheets.

The discussion then turns to cross‑border coordination and international standard‑setting. Commissioner White walks through the NAIC’s work with the IAIS and the FSB as global bodies refine expectations around recovery and resolution planning, including the implications of the FSB’s expanded list of insurers subject to resolution planning standards. He also offers a detailed overview of progress on the Aggregation Method, recognized as comparable to the ICS in 2024, and outlines how U.S. regulators are addressing remaining issues such as interest‑rate sensitivity and supervisory intervention. The conversation also covers the NAIC’s broader capital‑framework modernization, including the RBC Guiding Principles adopted in 2025 and the ongoing gap analysis aimed at updating a framework that has not undergone major structural revision since the 1990s.

Finally, Commissioner White examines two areas drawing heightened global attention: alternative asset growth and asset‑intensive reinsurance, and the widening natural catastrophe protection gap. He discusses the supervisory responses underway, from enhanced review of asset‑backed securities and offshore reinsurance treaties to expanded market‑level data collection and mitigation‑focused consumer education. The episode concludes with a deep dive into the NAIC’s emerging AI oversight architecture, including the 10‑state pilot of the new AI Systems Evaluation Tool, and the regulatory tensions arising from federal proposals that would centralize or preempt AI governance across industries.