International insurance supervisors support G-20 Declaration by adopting guidance on the use of supervisory colleges

October 26, 2009: International insurance supervisors support G-20 Declaration by adopting guidance on the use of supervisory colleges The International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) has adopted a supervisory paper which provides guidance on the use of supervisory colleges in group-wide supervision. This is a significant step to further strengthen the effectiveness of the supervision of internationally active insurance groups globally.

The paper provides 13 key features for effective supervisory colleges, including guidance on the inter-relationship between a group-wide supervisor and a supervisory college, the range of functions that a college may undertake and practical considerations in the operational structure of a supervisory college.

Peter Braumüller, Chairman of the IAIS, said “The financial crisis has highlighted the importance of ensuring sound supervision of insurance groups, particularly those which are internationally active. To this end, the timely adoption of the guidance paper represents a significant part of the IAIS response to the global financial crisis and will provide an additional tool to insurance supervisors worldwide to cooperate through a supervisory college mechanism”.



The guidance paper supports the G-20 Leaders Declaration of November 2008 which called for supervisors to collaborate to establish supervisory colleges for all major cross-border financial institutions, including insurers, to further strengthen the supervision of cross-border insurance groups. The IAIS will use the guidance paper as a basis to provide additional insurance perspectives to the Financial Stability Board in developing global protocols for supervisory colleges for the financial sector overall.

The International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) announced at its annual conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, that three further insurance supervisory authorities – Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (Australia), Autorité de Contrôle des Assurances et des Mutuelles (France) and De Nederlandsche Bank (Netherlands) – have become signatories to the IAIS Multilateral Memorandum of Understanding (MMoU). Previous signatories include Bermuda Monetary Authority, the Financial Supervisory Commission of Chinese Taipei and the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) of Germany. With this announcement the total number of MMoU signatories has increased to six.

Launch of new global programme to improve access to insurance
Future of insurance markets and supervision
Joint Forum releases final Report on SPEs
IAIS call for rapid progress on financial instruments standards
IAIS supports the G20 Declaration on strengthening the financial system
IAIS takes action on G20 and FSF recommendations
Global reinsurers remain resilient amid financial crisis
IAIS steps up supervisory coordination efforts

CLICK FOR MORE INSURANCE RELATED STORIES
CLICK FOR SPECIAL SECTION ON GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISIS
CLICK FOR MORE FEATURES & STORIES