From the Desk of the Secretary General – April 2024

By Jonathan Dixon

This month we shared the key components of the IAIS’ next five-year Strategic Plan through a series of webinars with both members and stakeholders. The Strategic Plan charts a challenging, but exciting, course for the IAIS for the 2025-2029 period.

It defines:

• What we aim to achieve through our work;
• Which topics and issues we expect to dedicate a greater degree of focus on; and
• Our intentions to continue to evolve and improve the way in which we work.

We are nearing completion of a rigorous process of debate and engagement on our future direction that began in early 2023. A task force of Executive Committee members has helped guide the development process. This has benefited from the input from numerous interactions with members and stakeholders through comprehensive surveys, roundtables at our Annual Conference and many (sub)committee discussions.

Last week, we conducted a number of webinars to share the key components of the Strategic Plan, including the core objectives, the strategic themes and the operational priorities that will guide the work of the Association. These are interconnected elements of the plan, all equally important to the IAIS’ efforts to achieve its mission.

The core objectives are the mutually reinforcing cycle of activities the IAIS seeks to perform its role. These have been defined as:

• Monitor and respond to key risks and trends in global insurance sector;
• Set and maintain globally recognised standards for supervision;
• Share good supervisory practices and facilitate capacity building; and
• Assess consistent implementation of global standards.

Over the next five years, the IAIS has identified three strategic themes for its work programme. These themes have the potential to significantly impact, or even reshape, the insurance sector, and thus warrant heightened attention and action by the global supervisory community. These strategic themes are:

• Strengthening supervisory response to climate change;
• Adapting to digital innovation and cyber risks; and
• Supporting insurance to serve its societal purpose of building resilience.

The final element of our Strategic Plan is the operational priorities, which are encapsulated in four words: inclusivity, sustainability, engagement, and efficiency. These guiding principles will shape our approach to fulfilling our mission and realising our strategic objectives.

In formulating the Strategic Plan, we have reflected on our achievements and ongoing projects, and anticipated the evolving insurance landscape. The 2025-2029 Strategic Plan will build on the solid work from the last five-year period, incorporating recent developments.

The IAIS will now enter a period of ongoing maintenance and refinement of standards, with an increased emphasis on supporting comprehensive, globally consistent implementation of our supervisory material and continued vigilance in assessing key risks and trends impacting the global insurance sector.

We have considered our dual role as a standard-setting body within the global financial architecture and a broad-based membership-driven association, supporting members in their own efforts to strengthen insurance supervision. With over 200 member jurisdictions, the IAIS is uniquely positioned to help its membership tackle emerging trends and challenges in the insurance sector. Global challenges demand a global response – and for that the IAIS stands ready.

From here, we will finalise the Strategic Plan – incorporating final feedback from members and stakeholders – seeking endorsement from the IAIS Executive Committee in June and then the broader IAIS membership through an Extraordinary General Meeting in the latter half of the year.

The coming years will bring no shortage of challenging objectives. However, it is also an exciting time, and we look forward to collaborating with our members and stakeholders to realise an ambitious, but crucial, agenda over the next five years.