Barnert Associates, Inc. was established in 1986. It provides consulting to insurers that enables them to stay ahead of the curve on insurance regulatory issues. Since inception, Barnert Associates has represented clients in negotiations with regulators before the NAIC on numerous issues, including the NAIC Model Investment Law, Risk Based Capital rules and formulas, e-commerce, establishment of the NAIC Asset Valuation Reserve, valuation of securities, regulation of money market funds, equity indexed annuities, disclosure requirements, derivative regulation, asset-liability management, real estate and mortgage regulation, and, for the nine year Codification of NAIC Statutory Accounting Practices project.
Barnert Global, Ltd. was formed in 1997 in response to the growing international regulatory discussions occurring around the world. It has become an important source of information on international insurance issues for IASB members, its staff, and Industry. Barnert Global has attended every open meeting of the International Accounting Standards Committee Board (IASB) and the Insurance Advisory Committee (and its predecessor Steering Committee) since IASB opened its doors to the public in March 1999. IASB is the principle entity responsible for the development of the international financial regulation framework recommended by the Financial Stability Forum.
Barnert Global believes that once developed by IASB, ensuring implementation of the new international accounting standards by the insurance industry worldwide will need strong input and agreement from insurance regulators, especially in developing countries. Accordingly, since December 2000, when the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) opened its annual meetings to Observers, Barnert Global joined as an Observer Member and in that capacity has attended IAIS annual meetings in Cape Town, Bonn, and Santiago, many regional meetings when open to the public, as well as regional seminars in Lima, Krakow, Oaxaca, and Kuala Lumpur, Tokyo, Amman, and Delhi.
At the October 2000 IAIS Annual Meeting in Cape Town, Doug Barnert chaired an Observer member panel presenting to regulators and Observers on the subject of