From the Desk of the Secretary General – April 2023

by Romain Paserot

When the IAIS met in Santiago for its November 2022 meetings, our Chair, Victoria Saporta , spoke about the downbeat #EconomicOutlook, the risks of increased inflationary pressures plus liquidity and credit risks. As we prepare for our next in-person meetings from 12-16 June in Seattle, US, the economic outlook is just as complicated. We have a packed agenda for the week, including a Global Seminar that reflects the breadth of the issues we cover as #Insurance supervisors.

We’ll start the Global Seminar with a keynote speech from Jean Pesme of the World Bank. Jean will speak about the development of the #InsuranceIndustry in #EmergingMarkets and developing economies and support the World Bank is providing for the development of insurance markets, the assistance it is offering to insurance supervisors and the challenges of addressing #ClimateChange and increasing #FinancialInclusion.

Then, over the course of the following two days, we’ll hear from leading experts on panels covering issues as diverse as integrating climate risks into insurance supervisory practices, the role of #ArtificialIntelligence and #MachineLearning, and the steps supervisors can take to address natural catastrophe protection gaps.

We will also have three roundtable discussions on topical supervisory issues: #Diversity, #Equity and #Inclusion; #Cyber underwriting and #OperationalRisk (which will pick up points from our recently published GIMAR special edition on cyber); plus IFRS 17 implementation hosted by the International Actuarial Association .

Our regular ExCo Dialogue and a panel on emerging risks in the global #InsuranceSector will provide us with a timely opportunity to consider the impact of recent economic and financial market developments on supervisory priorities.

Looking even further ahead during the Global Seminar, we will have a special session seeking stakeholder input to identify medium-term insurance risks as we develop our new Strategic Plan for 2025-2029.

As a precursor to the Global Seminar, our June committee meetings earlier that week, will mark a significant milestone in our efforts to develop the Insurance Capital Standard (#ICS). Following the Seattle meetings, we will launch a 90-day consultation on the candidate ICS, which will be a key milestone to finalising the global standard next year. This will be a large consultation on the candidate ICS as a prescribed capital requirement (PCR). We will also launch in parallel a consultation on the review of the Insurance Core Principles (ICPs) on Valuation (ICP 14) and Capital Adequacy (ICP 17). At the Global Seminar, stakeholders will get a preview of the changes to the ICS and ICPs that will be considered for consultation.

Also to be discussed at the committee meetings is the 2023 Global Monitoring Exercise (GME). The Executive Committee will consider the first outcomes of this year’s data collections and Macroprudential Committee activities and discuss the scope of its September collective discussion on the assessment and mitigation of #SystemicRisk in the global insurance sector. The Global Seminar panel on emerging risks in the global insurance sector will provide an overview of IAIS activities.

Thanks to our colleagues at the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) who are hosting us for the week, we look set to have a productive series of meetings, excellent panels and extensive dialogue in a wonderful setting. Don’t forget to register – we look forward to meeting our members and stakeholders there.