Insurers including Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. and thousands of insurance brokers and agents are lobbying to limit new rules aimed at deterring kickbacks alleged by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer.
Industry groups were set to argue over the weekend at a hearing in New Orleans that the proposed regulations might disrupt the decades-old practice of insurers' paying extra fees to distributors that bring in the most - and most profitable - business. Last month the National Association of Insurance Commissioners drafted rules that would force brokers and agents to tell clients how much insurers pay them.
The industry is sparring over how much customers should know and whether agents, who work for insurers, should have fewer requirements than brokers, who work for clients. After Mr. Spitzer sued Marsh & McLennan Cos., the world's largest broker, in October, the top four firms banned incentive fees. But thousands of brokers and agents have not.
