From the Desk of the Secretary General – September 2022

by Jonathan Dixon

It was with great pleasure that this month we were able to return to meeting in person for the IAIS’ yearly Executive Committee (ExCo) Strategic Retreat and collective discussions on the outcomes of the 2022 Global Monitoring Exercise (GME). Convening in Basel, the ExCo considered the risks and key trends facing the #insurancesector and, consequently, the strategic themes and priorities that will form the Association’s next year’s workplan.?

Starting with the collective discussion, we had a rich discourse on the outcomes of our 2022 GME. The session focused on several global insurance groups as well as on three macroprudential trends facing the insurance sector: (1) the lower economic outlook and rising inflation, (2) private equity ownership of insurance businesses and (3) #climatechange . ExCo discussed the risk assessment and supervisory responses and formulated recommendations in terms of further actions. The outcomes will be reported to the Financial Stability Board (FSB) and highlights will be shared in our annual Global Insurance Market Report (GIMAR) later this year.?

Following the collective discussion, the Strategic Retreat commenced, allowing a focus on other important topics, such as: (1) #diversity , #equity and #inclusion (#DEI ) within the #IAIS , (2) market conduct, (3) #digitalinnovation and (4) protection gaps.?

? We discussed with ExCo IAIS efforts to further build DEI into our own internal governance and processes, including several concrete proposals to foster inclusion and enhance “diversity of thought” within the Association.

? In our examination of digital innovation, we considered the outcomes of a member survey on developments in this area and priorities for the IAIS’ FinTech Forum, including the use of #ArtificialIntelligence (AI) and #MachineLearning (ML) by insurers.?

? On market conduct, we discussed the interconnections between the IAIS’ work on market conduct and on prudential issues, as well as the future strategy for ensuring sufficient attention is afforded to issues of conduct and culture in the upcoming IAIS Roadmap and beyond.?

? Finally, we discussed the role that supervisors could play in multi-stakeholder approaches to addressing protection gaps. There was general agreement that this issue impacts all jurisdictions – both developed and developing – and there was an appetite for the IAIS to undertake additional work in this area, in collaboration with other key organisations and stakeholders, focusing on natural catastrophe protection gaps. Relatedly, we yesterday published a joint note with the Access to Insurance Initiative (A2ii) about the role of supervisors in multi-stakeholder approaches to address #pandemic protection gaps.?

With this critical element of our annual strategic planning cycle complete, we look forward to refining our 2023-2024 Roadmap before sharing highlights at our Annual Conference in November and publishing it in early 2023.?