FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 27, 2024

HARTFORD, CT – State Insurance Commissioner Andrew N. Mais today announced that Connecticut is one of five states participating in a strategic regulatory coalition working to identify ways to pair capital from insurance companies and other catalytic funding sources to make investments that have a positive societal impact on people and the environment.

"We wanted to find ways to help enable insurers, who are significant investors in our infrastructure, to make more of those investments that improve our communities,” said Commissioner Mais. “We believe insurers can drive positive change and this work can help meet the need for stable, secure investments that insurance companies require."

The work of the coalition, which also includes Iowa, Wisconsin, New York and California, and global investment firm, Nuveen, has led to the development of first of their kind impact investment strategies. The strategies pool investments from diverse asset classes into a single solution for use in community investments that include:

• Affordable housing
• Sustainable energy infrastructure for commercial real estate
• Companies increasing resource efficiency, mitigating carbon emissions, and expanding access to affordable basic services

“We were able to learn about the ways insurers were investing capital in communities and what regulatory barriers they faced,” Commissioner Mais said. “These innovative strategies now fit our current regulatory framework and are within investment guidelines for insurers.”

In addition to state insurance regulators and Nuveen, the coalition also included insurers, trade organizations, asset managers and philanthropic foundations.

"As a global leader in impact investing, Nuveen is well-positioned to deliver innovative investment solutions that solve complex problems," said Amy O'Brien, Nuveen’s Global Head of Responsible Investing. "Using the tools of blended finance and Nuveen's breadth of impact capabilities, we believe we can create a structure that can serve as a template to scale up insurance assets invested for impact."

In his capacity as President of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), Commissioner Mais and Nuveen updated the organization and other stakeholders on the coalition’s work during the NAIC Fall National Meeting in Denver on Sunday, November 19.

“For the past two years we have engaged in meaningful collaboration and strategized to help strengthen insurers’ investment impacts to support a more sustainable, resilient future for our communities,” Commissioner Mais said.

For more information about Nuveen’s investment solutions for insurers, please visit www.nuveen.com/insurance or contact Joseph Pursley, Head of Insurance, Americas at Nuveen.

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