With the inaugural meeting of the Federal Advisory Committee on Insurance (FACI, pronounced "fah-key") now in the record books, it is clear that at least initially, the group's focus will reflect FIO Director Michael McRaith's perspective on broad, global themes.

McRaith steered the group's first meeting – a nearly 3.5-hour-long conversation between a collection of disparate forces from across the insurance industry – toward one of the overarching trends he believes needs attention: the demographics of Western society, with its growing middle class and aging/longevity issues.

While McRaith spotlighted the importance of internationalization of insurance, and the priority of the U.S. to receive fair play globally, he cautioned participants to not focus on specific countries or to get enmeshed in overly specific issues in their FACI advisory roles. Instead, McRaith suggested, they should look at supervision on a broad scale, and to address insurance supervision systemically.