From the Desk of the Secretary General – November 2024

By Jonathan Dixon

Earlier this month, the IAIS announced a milestone achievement for the Association and for supervisors around the globe, effectively finalising one of our landmark projects, that has been over a decade in the making. The Executive Committee approved the first-ever comprehensive global Insurance Capital Standard (ICS) as a prescribed capital requirement for internationally active insurance groups.

Our Executive Committee has also finalised the comparability assessment of the United States (US)-developed Aggregation Method (AM), concluding that a US AM provides a basis for implementation of the ICS to produce comparable outcomes. The comparability assessment highlighted some areas where work as part of implementation of the final AM in the US will help ensure convergence.

Looking at the next steps, the ICS will be put forward for adoption at the upcoming IAIS Annual General Meeting on 5 December, in Cape Town. When adopted, this will provide, for the first time, a common language for cross-border discussions on group solvency. The ICS will contribute significantly to bolstering financial stability and building a more resilient global insurance sector to better serve and protect policyholders around the world.

I would like to thank all our members and stakeholders for their constructive collaboration over the years, even in the face of complexity and challenges, including a global pandemic. The ICS is a testament to how global supervisors can achieve remarkable progress when working together to achieve shared objectives.

Following our AGM, I am very much looking forward to our Annual Conference, on 5-6 December in Cape Town under the theme: “Licence to operate: the role of insurance in supporting societal resilience”. The theme reflects a priority topic of our Strategic Plan 2025-2029 and we are eager to engage with stakeholders and members alike on the key issues facing the supervisory community and the global insurance sector. An excellent line-up of speakers will provide diverse insights and perspectives – and seven roundtables allow for open discussions and providing feedback on our work.

We are honoured to have Lesetja Kganyago, Governor of the South African Reserve Bank, set the scene and open the conference before the Executive Committee Town Hall, covering the ICS and other core projects of our work programme. A deep dive into the different perspectives around the risks in the global insurance sector will follow, where the key themes of our Global Insurance Market Report (GIMAR) will help frame the discussion. Our “Views from the C-Suite” brings in five CEOs of global insurance groups to share current challenges to the sector, and what might be done to address those.

We have a strong focus on the role of insurance in supporting the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, Amina J. Mohammed, will provide an update on the progress towards the SDGs and consider the role that the global insurance sector could play in helping to achieve these global goals.

Two panels, on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in insurance and the societal role of insurance will speak directly to the theme of the conference, highlighting how well-targeted insurance products and services can make a real difference in the lives of vulnerable individuals and communities.

A special thank you to the Financial Sector Conduct Authority and the Prudential Authority within the South African Reserve Bank – many of whom are former colleagues – for hosting what promises to be a very special event, marking a key milestone for the IAIS.

I look very forward to welcoming many of you to sunny South Africa!