The New York State Insurance Department has promoted its special counsel to a deputy superintendent position overseeing the life insurance industry.

Matthew J. Gaul

Matthew J. Gaul, who joined the department in December 2007, will succeed Kermitt J. Brooks in the role. Brooks, according to the insurance department, will remain first deputy superintendent and second in command of the state agency.

Andy Mais, a spokesman for the department, said the move is part of an ongoing reorganization started previously by Brooks. The change will give the veteran regulator an opportunity to broaden his focus to other regulatory issues in New York’s insurance markets.

Gaul will be charged with overseeing the licensing, examination and regulation of all life insurers and related entities, as well as oversight of the state’s public pension funds, the department said.

New York Insurance Superintendent James J. Wrynn called Gaul “a valuable asset,” beginning in 2007 with his work as special counsel to the New York State Commission to Modernize the Regulation of Financial Services. The “Blue Ribbon Panel” of Wall Street executives, government leaders and consumer services advocates was appointed by former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer and former insurance superintendent Eric Dinallo.

Soon after fulfilling that role, Gaul joined the insurance department as its special counsel.

“As a member of the senior leadership team, he has led the charge to advance the New York Insurance Exchange and worked closely with Kermitt on the producer compensation disclosure regulation, the most progressive consumer protection of its type in the nation,” Wrynn said in a statement. “I am confident that under his leadership, our Life Bureau will continue to demonstrate the exemplary commitment to innovation and consumer protection that has earned it a sterling reputation.”

Life industry ‘better positioned for growth’

Wrynn also praised Brooks, indicating that he has done a “stellar job steering the life industry through this economic crisis while performing his duties as first deputy superintendent.

“He was asked to combine two very difficult and demanding portfolios during the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, and he responded with great distinction,” Wrynn said. “The life insurance industry in New York is better positioned for growth today because of his efforts, and the Department and New York State have benefited greatly from his work. I value Kermitt’s counsel highly and look forward to continuing to work closely with him in his position as first deputy as we move to implement some of the new initiatives we have undertaken.”

Among the successes Brooks achieved, according to Wrynn, are the proposed producer compensation disclosure regulation, which he said will make consumers more fully aware of compensation agreements between agent and insurer, and a new law in New York regulating the life settlement industry.

Brooks was named first deputy superintendent in January 2007 and following Dinallo’s departure earlier this year, served as acting superintendent from July 4 to Aug. 20, when Wrynn was nominated for the full-time post.

Prior to joining the insurance department, Gaul worked in the New York State Attorney General’s Office and prior to that, was a litigation associate at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, where he focused on criminal and civil securities fraud matters.

Wrynn also recently announced that Joseph Fritsch was named deputy superintendent for accounting and international affairs. Fritsch, who joined the department in 1979, was most recently director of insurance accounting policy.