Wheaton, Illinois, April 25, 2006--Two vice presidents from the American Association of Insurance Services (AAIS) participated in the inaugural meeting of the Massachusetts property/casualty Form and Rate Filing Forum.

The forum brings together representatives of insurance companies, industry organizations, and the Massachusetts Division of Insurance (DOI) to review a range of filing and compliance issues.

AAIS, a national advisory organization that develops policy forms and rating information, is one of the forum's co-sponsors, along with the American Insurance Association, the Insurance Services Office, the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies, and the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America.

AAIS members companies that want to participate in future meetings can contact Larris Larsen, AAIS assistant vice president for compliance, at larrisl@AAISonline.com. The next meeting is planned for late July.

At the inaugural meeting on April 20 in Boston, Larsen presented a detailed analysis of the Massachusetts "checklist" of requirements for filing homeowners insurance policy forms, with comparisons to checklists developed by other states.

Larsen believes there may be some changes to the Massachusetts checklist as a result of the discussion. "[The checklist] seemed to be high on their list of things to address," he said in subsequent comments.

Robert Guevara, AAIS vice president of inland marine, discussed the general distinction between filed and nonfiled classes of inland marine insurance, and made the case for not requiring filing of forms for certain classes in Massachusetts.

Guevara believes the Massachusetts DOI will continue its current interpretation of state statutes, which holds that all inland marine forms must be filed. However, he believes the department may look for another way to exempt the nonfiled classes from form filing requirements.

For information on affiliating with AAIS for use of any of its insurance line programs, contact Rick Maka, director of marketing, at rickm@AAISonline.com.

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