FACI Appoints Big ‘I’ Member; FIO Director Resigns

During its first 2017 meeting last week, the Federal Advisory Committee on Insurance (FACI) formally appointed Quincy L. Branch, president & CEO of Branch Benefits Consultants in Las Vegas, to represent the interests of insurance agents and brokers.

FACI is composed of various state government officials, insurance professionals and consumer advocates. Its purpose is to provide advice and recommendations to assist the Federal Insurance Office (FIO) in carrying out its statutory obligations of monitoring the domestic insurance industry and developing federal policy on international insurance matters.

Branch is a second-generation insurance professional and an active Big “I” member who previously served as chair of the National Young Agents Committee. In 2013, Vegas, Inc. honored Branch as one of Las Vegas’s 40 under 40, and Employee Benefits Advisors selected him as one of its 10 Rising Stars. Branch also made Insurance Business America’s Hot 100 list in 2015.

Also at the FACI meeting, Mike McRaith announced his resignation as FIO director, effective Jan. 20. McRaith has been at the helm of the FIO since 2011, when the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act created the office. McRaith’s successor has not been announced and may depend in part on Dodd-Frank reforms that are currently under consideration in Congress, including potential changes to the FIO itself.

In addition to the announcements, FACI members discussed a variety of issues during the meeting, including price drivers in auto insurance and how big data and other technologies are changing underwriting. The next FACI meeting is scheduled for May 2017.

Jennifer Webb is Big “I” federal government affairs counsel.