North Carolina Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey plans to petition the US Congress to abolish the Federal Insurance Office.

"I do plan to write a letter to all of our congressional delegations asking for [the Federal Insurance Office] to be abolished," Causey said in an interview with S&P Global Market Intelligence. "I don't think it's necessary that we have a federal insurance office."

Causey, who recently won reelection to a four-year term, said he believes that the Federal Insurance Office (FIO) is a "duplication of efforts" and called it a "waste of taxpayer dollars." Insurance is best regulated on a state level, he said. Causey plans to write his letter asking for the FIO's abolishment before the end of this year.

The Federal Insurance Office was established within the US Treasury Department as part of the Dodd-Frank Act in 2010. According to its website, the FIO is tasked with monitoring the insurance industry for potential "issues or gaps in the regulation of insurers" that may create a "systemic crisis" in the insurance industry or the US financial system as a whole.

The FIO also is authorized to monitor the access that underserved communities and consumers have to "affordable non-health insurance products," and assists the Treasury secretary in administering the federally backed Terrorism Risk Insurance Program, among other duties.

New administration, previous efforts

Causey's remarks come as President-elect Donald Trump has asked Tesla CEO and billionaire Elon Musk and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy to lead an advisory panel tasked with reducing government expenditure.

"Together, these two wonderful Americans will pave the way for my administration to dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure federal agencies," Trump said in a post on X.

House Rep. Ben Cline (R-Va.) has led previous efforts to abolish the FIO, including introducing legislation most recently in 2023 that would eliminate the agency. The bill was not taken up on the floor of the House.

Steven Seitz is director of the FIO. He is also a nonvoting member of the Financial Stability Oversight Council.

The FIO did not respond to comment prior to publication.

National Association of Insurance Commissioners discussion

Causey said there could be widespread support for abolishing FIO within the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) and among state regulators. He expects the NAIC to follow suit and come out in favor of dissolving the FIO.

The NAIC did not respond to comment prior to publication.

One federal insurance program that Causey does not support eliminating is the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The Heritage Foundation's Project 2025 initiative, which has been described as a potential policy blueprint for a second Trump administration, has proposed winding down the NFIP and replacing it with private insurance companies.

"We certainly need to keep the NFIP," Causey said, but it "may need some congressional reform."