Developments at the nation's premier forum of state insurance regulators are roiling capital markets, with potentially meaningful consequences for companies raising funds as well as the insurance industry.

By way of background, insurance companies invest premium dollars in investment assets such as mortgages, bonds and stocks. Insurers are among the most active institutional participants in capital markets, particularly private placements. Like many investors, insurers want to be diversified and hold a variety of asset classes. State insurance laws also require that insurers observe concentration limits and similar criteria in their investment portfolios (see, e.g., New York Insurance Law Art. 14).