Key takeaways 

• New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo signed into law a bill that consolidates the New York Insurance and Banking Departments into a new Department of Financial Services, to be overseen by a Superintendent whose powers are set forth in a new Financial Services Law, taking full effect on October 3, 2011. 
• The new law extends the Superintendent’s enforcement and rulemaking powers to previously unregulated financial products, services and entities and creates new penalties for financial fraud while increasing the existing Insurance Law penalties. 
• The Department of Financial Services will have a Financial Frauds and Consumer Protection Unit that is empowered to investigate financial fraud committed by insurers and other financial services entities as well as insurance fraud by claimants.