03/11/2010
Insurance regulators vigilant over systemic risks
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) on 2 November announced plans to evaluate the systemic risks emanating from insurers worldwide and to consider ways to apply recent banking regulatory reforms to the insurance sector. At their triennial meeting in Dubai, the IAIS, which inlcudes regulators from 140 countries and over 120 insurers, established a two-year calendar for evaluating the recommendations of the Financial Stability Board (FSB) for financial reforms, the association says. “The evolution of the insurance sector with a growing number of insurers who extend their activities worldwide … has increased pressure to institute reforms,” says the president of the IAIS, Peter Braumüller. Although the association admits that traditional insurers present few systemic risks, regulators say they must be vigilant in the face of “the opacity of the borders of the financial sector” as it touches on insurers.
