Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
There is growing acknowledgement that advancing DEI within insurers’ organisations and business models supports sound prudential and consumer outcomes as well as sustainability objectives. DEI also touches on several strategic themes identified in the IAIS Strategic Plan 2020-2024, such as conduct and culture, but also financial inclusion, sustainable economic development and technological innovation.
IAIS work on DEI
The IAIS is committed to deepening and strengthening its work on DEI through the following activities:
- Undertaking exploratory work on the insurance sector’s efforts and steps taken by supervisors in support of DEI objectives, including via engagement with stakeholders
- Incorporating relevant DEI aspects into ongoing IAIS projects and activities, in particular those related to corporate governance, culture and conduct
- Exploring opportunities to cooperate with other international organisations and partners, such as our implementation partner, the Access to Insurance Initiative (A2ii), to encourage supervisory dialogue and sharing of good practices.
In December 2022 the IAIS published a stocktake report on the actions IAIS member supervisors, other international organisations and the insurance industry are taking to advance DEI in the insurance sector. This stocktake was a first step to inform further IAIS work to promote DEI in insurers’ governance and conduct of business.
DEI at the IAIS
The IAIS is also committed to leading by example, strengthening DEI in its own governance and processes as a global membership association. Read more about this here.
Recent and upcoming events
- 09 February 2023, Stakeholder session on DEI stocktake and future work
10 November 2022, Annual Conference panel on DEI for better consumer and prudential outcomes
Related documents
- In November 2021, the IAIS published a statement on the importance of DEI
considerations in insurance supervision.
Partners
Advancing DEI within an insurers’ organisation plays a role in achieving broader Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) objectives, such as creating more accessible markets and supporting financial inclusion among traditionally underserved communities and individuals, including progressing inclusive insurance.
In this regard, the work of A2ii is relevant to the IAIS activities related to DEI.