<P> The first stock insurance company formed in the United States was the Insurance Company of North America in 1792 . Massachusetts enacted the first state law requiring insurance companies to maintain adequate reserves in 1837 . Formal regulation of the insurance industry began in earnest when the first state commissioner of insurance was appointed in New Hampshire in 1851 . In 1859, the State of New York appointed its own commissioner of insurance and created a state insurance department to move towards more comprehensive regulation of insurance at the state level . </P> <P> Insurance and the insurance industry has grown, diversified and developed significantly ever since . Insurance companies were, in large part, prohibited from writing more than one line of insurance until laws began to permit multi-line charters in the 1950s . From an industry dominated by small, local, single - line mutual companies and member societies, the business of insurance has grown increasingly towards multi-line, multi-state and even multi-national insurance conglomerates and holding companies . </P> <P> Historically, the insurance industry in the United States was regulated almost exclusively by the individual state governments . The first state commissioner of insurance was appointed in New Hampshire in 1851 and the state - based insurance regulatory system grew as quickly as the insurance industry itself . Prior to this period, insurance was primarily regulated by corporate charter, state statutory law and de facto regulation by the courts in judicial decisions . </P> <P> Under the state - based insurance regulation system, each state operates independently to regulate their own insurance markets, typically through a state department of insurance or division of insurance . Stretching back as far as the Paul v. Virginia case in 1869, challenges to the state - based insurance regulatory system have risen from various groups, both within and without the insurance industry . The state regulatory system has been described as cumbersome, redundant, confusing and costly . </P>

Who is the regulator of the insurance sector in the united states