Jefferson City, Mo. - The Missouri Department of Insurance, Financial Institutions and Professional Registration released its 2014 Annual Report. The department has produced the report since 1870. Since 2011, the report has been fully interactive and produced exclusively for online use. The 2014 Annual Report can be found on the department's website, difp.mo.gov.  The report offers data on trends in banking, insurance and other regulations through links, charts and illustrations.

"Our department recovered nearly $25 million for insurance consumers in 2014, including a record $7.8 million regulatory settlement with a leading health insurer," said John M. Huff, director of Missouri DIFP. "Protecting Missourians and leveraging technology to provide efficient and effective state-based regulation remain the core objectives our department strives to meet each and every day."

 Some of the department's accomplishments in 2014 include:

• The Missouri Department of Insurance concluded 2014 by recovering nearly $25 million for Missourians including $11.7 million for consumers, who filed complaints against their insurance companies and an additional $12.7 million for Missourians through regulatory, market conduct settlements.
• The department launched a new campaign in 2014 that targets distracted driving. The MO Eyes on the Road campaign actively engages parents and teens through social media, public service announcements, publications and online information.
• Professional Registration's Dental Board, Board of Nursing, Board of Pharmacy and Board of Registration for the Healing Arts hosted the first Joint Regulatory Patient Safety Conference. More than 200 health professionals registered for the conference. The event was held to foster a platform to discuss issues of mutual concern and to host a conference that promotes patient safety and public protection.
• Missouri remains a leader in community banking ranking fifth in the nation with 262 state-chartered banks and eighth nationally with the number of state-chartered credit unions being 115.
• Missouri ranked 12th among the states as having the overall, lowest insurance regulatory cost. The rankings were based on data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.

Director Huff supports modernizing regulation by leveraging technology to harvest efficiency gains and to increase transparency for consumers and the marketplace. In 2014, Missouri became the fifth state to use SERFF Filing Access (SFA) to make insurance company filing records accessible to the public. As a result, access to Missouri insurance company filings for rates, rules and forms is available by web technology on demand at any time.

The report is available on the department's website at difp.mo.gov.