From the Desk of the Secretary General – February 2024

by Jonathan Dixon

Implementation assessment has become an increasingly important aspect of the IAIS’ work. Following an intensive period of standard setting, our focus now pivots towards ensuring the comprehensive and consistent implementation of our agreed standards. This shift is critical to our mission of supporting effective and globally consistent supervision.

This month, the IAIS launched a second round of targeted jurisdictional assessments (TJAs) of the implementation of the IAIS Holistic Framework in six additional major insurance markets, marking another significant step in our ongoing implementation assessment endeavours.

Implementation assessment is an important element of the IAIS’ Holistic Framework for the assessment and mitigation of systemic risk in the insurance sector, which serves as our framework for macroprudential surveillance and supervision. This has followed a phased approach.

In 2020-2021, a baseline assessment set initial benchmarks of implementation across 26 jurisdictions. Subsequently, in 2021-2022, this progressed to more intensive TJAs of ten major insurance markets. This targeted approach involves on-site assessments and verification of supervisory practices. Overall, the TJA results demonstrated strong implementation of the Holistic Framework standards, with good levels of observance across many of the standards. These initial assessments were followed last year with a monitoring of the progress made by these jurisdictions in addressing identified gaps. Many of the gaps identified during the TJA process are being addressed through legislative amendments and the adoption of new supervisory expectations and practices.

This year’s TJA in an additional six jurisdictions is a valuable extension of this effective mechanism for advancing supervisory consistency. Looking ahead, advancing comprehensive and consistent implementation of our standards will remain a cornerstone of our 2025-2029 Strategic Plan, supported by a set of well-established tools.

Among these tools are the Peer Review Process (PRP), which follows a thematic approach in facilitating jurisdictions to measure the level of observance of our Insurance Core Principles (ICPs), and our Member Assessment Programme (MAP), which provides an in-depth analysis of a member’s implementation of all ICPs, akin to the rigorous assessment of financial sector standards undertaken by the IMF and World Bank.

This year, the PRP is centred on ICP 16 (Enterprise Risk Management for Solvency Purpose), with over 60 jurisdictions participating. Findings, including observance levels for each of the ICP’s standards and related illustrative examples to enhance supervisory practices, will be published in an aggregate report. Additionally, this year marks the launch of the 5th MAP, conducted for the Sultanate of Oman.

Discussions have also begun on the assessment of implementation of the Insurance Capital Standard, due to be adopted as a prescribed capital requirement for internationally active insurance groups by the end of this year.

Our assessment activities are complemented by an ambitious capacity-building programme supporting our members’ implementation efforts. Through close cooperation with implementation partners, such as the A2ii and FSI and regional bodies, we support training programmes, regional engagements and platforms for peer exchange. These initiatives foster enhanced supervisory capacity and understanding of emerging risks and trends.

As a former Chair of the IAIS Implementation and Assessment Committee myself, it is wonderful to see how far we’ve come in our collective commitment towards robust implementation assessment and capacity building in recent years. Through these member-driven activities, the IAIS strives to achieve more effective and consistent risk-based insurance supervision, thereby contributing to global financial stability and policyholder protection.