The new US Federal Insurance Office (FIO) is wasting no time making its presence in the market felt, calling for comments on ways to reform the country’s splintered and sometimes chaotic insurance regulatory system.

Some pundits see the move as part of an attempt by the Federal Government to wrest control of insurance regulation from the states, which until the FIO’s formation a few months ago set their own agendas.

The FIO was established as part of the Dodd-Frank Act’s reform of the US financial services sector.

While it does not have regulatory control of the insurance industry, it has been given the job of monitoring access to insurance and developing policy.

FIO Director Michael McRaith, the widely admired former Illinois Insurance Director, is calling for public comment on how the current regulatory system addresses such aspects as systemic risk and insurance, capital standards, consumer protection, national uniformity, consolidated regulation and international co-ordination.

The study, which will be submitted to the Government in late January, is also seeking input on the feasibility of regulating only certain lines of insurance at the federal level, while leaving other lines of insurance to be regulated at the state level, and the impact that regulation in foreign jurisdictions might have on the potential federal regulation of insurance.