IAIS Sets Key Priorities and Welcomes Five New Members

At the IAIS Annual General Meeting, members approved the 2019 Annual Report, welcomed five new members to IAIS, and elected new Executive Committee members. The five new IAIS members are Agência Angolana de Regulação e Supervisão de Seguros (Angola), Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario (Canada), International Financial Services Centers Authority (India), National Bank of Ukraine (Ukraine), and the Insurance and Pensions Commission (Zimbabwe). At its recent meetings, the IAIS Executive Committee reviewed the analysis of quantitative and qualitative data from the IAIS’ Global Monitoring Exercise (GME), which is part of its Holistic Framework. Data for the Global Monitoring Exercise is collected directly from insurance groups and supervisory authorities worldwide. Put in place just last year, the Global Monitoring Exercise was quickly adapted to assess the impact of COVID-19 on the global insurance sector. Findings of this exercise will be published soon in as part of the Global Insurance Market Report (GIMAR). 

The 27^th Annual Conference program included panels on climate risk management in the insurance sector and on reducing the insurance protection gap. The panel on climate risk management explored the role of insurers and insurance supervisors in embedding the management of climate and environmental risks into business and supervisory practice. Additionally, the panel on reducing the insurance protection gap explored activities that insurers, supervisors, and policymakers have been undertaking to improve access to insurance. Overall, climate risk and sustainability are key themes of the IAIS Strategic Plan 2020-2024, including its partnership with the UN Environmental Program’s Sustainable Insurance Forum. Finally, the IAIS Executive Committee determined the following four overarching priorities for the coming years:

• Risk assessment and maintenance of financial stability, including ongoing assessment of potential vulnerabilities arising from the impact of COVID-19 pandemic
• Delivery of key post-crisis reforms, including further refinement of the Insurance Capital Standard (ICS) during the current five-year monitoring period and consistent implementation of the Holistic Framework
• Actions to address the risks and opportunities of key trends, especially those accelerated by the COVID-19 crisis, like technological innovation, cyber risk, climate risk, and financial inclusion to address the protection gap; focus on diversity and inclusion and helping emerging market and developing economies shift to risk-based supervision will also factor heavily in IAIS work
• Implementation support and assessment, specifically reinforcing the extensive program of member support to help insurance supervisors understand and implement IAIS standards

Keywords: International, Insurance, COVID-19, Roadmap, Climate Change Risk, ESG, Global Monitoring Exercise, ICS, Holistic Framework, IAIS