protection act ( dodd - frank act ) gave the federal reserve regulatory responsibilities both for insurance holding companies that own a federally insured bank or thrift and for insurance companies designated as systemically important by the u. s. financial stability oversight council ( fsoc ). the insurance holding companies for which the federal reserve is the consolidated supervisor hold about $ 2 trillion in total assets, representing about one - quarter of u. s. insurance industry assets. these firms are highly diverse : they range in size from firms with total assets of approximately $ 3 billion to naic financial regulatory services, “ p & c, title, life / a & h, fraternal, and health industry snapshots for the period ended december 31, 2015 ( pdf ). ” ibid. ; bureau of economic analysis ( 2016 ), “ gross domestic product : first quarter 2016 ( advance estimate ) ( txt ), ” april 28, table 9 ; federal insurance office ( 2015 ), “ annual report on the insurance industry ( pdf ), ” september, p. 12. naic financial regulatory services, “ p & c, title, life / a & h, fraternal, and health industry snapshots for the period ended december 31, 2015 ( pdf ), ” pp. 1, 4 - 5. ibid. bis central bankers ’ speeches firms with total assets of over $ 700 billion. they engage in a wide variety of insurance and noninsurance activities. some are fully domestic, while others have material international operations. some are organized as mutual companies, while others are owned by public shareholders. the approach of the federal reserve in regulating insurance holding companies is derived from its overall statutory responsibilities for financial regulation as those have evolved over the years, most recently through the changes made by the dodd - frank act. first, as was the case prior to the enactment of the dodd - frank act, we are responsible for protecting the safety and soundness of federally insured depository institutions affiliated with any kind of holding company. with the dodd - frank act's transfer of slhc oversight to the federal reserve, that statutory responsibility now includes insurance holding companies. while the particulars are somewhat different than for bank holding companies, the aim and many of the tools to achieve this aim are the same. second, the dodd - frank act sharpened our statutory mandate to make clear that the federal reserve is to regulate and supervise holding companies with a view to the safety and soundness of not only the

daniel k tarullo : insurance companies and the role of the federal reserve speech by mr daniel k tarullo, member of the board of governors of the federal reserve system, at the national association of insurance commissioner ’ s international insurance forum, washington dc, 20 may 2016. * * * it is a pleasure to be here with you this morning to discuss the statutory role of the federal reserve in supervising and regulating insurance firms. since we inherited from the office of thrift supervision the oversight of savings and loan holding companies ( slhcs ) that contain insurance companies, we have looked at our role as complementing the role you – as insurance regulators – play. we value the interaction we have had with state insurance commissioners on policy matters and are pleased with the growth of ongoing, regularized cooperation in supervising the firms over which we both have oversight authority. personally, i have profited enormously from the assistance provided by the staff of the national association of insurance commissioners ( naic ) as i delved into the history and practice of capital regulation of insurance companies. today i would like to begin by describing how i view the federal reserve's role in insurance regulation and supervision – both what it is and what it is not. as i think you will find, we have tried to occupy that role in a way that is closely grounded in the duties that congress has given us. then i will present current thinking on a topic that i know has occasioned great interest – the federal reserve's plans for adopting capital requirements for the insurance firms over which we now have statutory responsibilities. the federal reserve's role in insurance regulation and supervision the u. s. insurance industry has historically been, and remains, a significant part of the u. s. economy. for the industry across all sectors, written premiums last year totaled nearly $ 2 trillion and earned premiums totaled nearly $ 1. 8 trillion, representing increases from 2014 of approximately 6 percent and 4 percent, respectively. 1 this represents over 7 percent of u. s. gross domestic product, as it has in recent years. 2 the two largest sectors in the u. s. insurance industry, property / casualty and life / annuities, together wrote approximately $ 1 trillion of premiums in 2015, up nearly 3 percent from the year prior. 3 moreover, for the u. s. insurance industry as a whole, written and earned premium last year were the highest in five years. 4 the dodd - frank wall street reform and consumer