2022 Global Seminar

With the resonant theme of insurance sector resilience, the IAIS Global Seminar welcomed over 350 participants from 70 countries to Dubrovnik, Croatia, on 16-17 June 2022.

Together, panellists and participants engaged and exchanged on the steps needed to strengthen insurance sector resilience following the unprecedented challenges of the past two and a half years.

Panel discussions

Town Hall

Updates from IAIS committees with moderated Q&A

The Global Seminar started with an engaging and interactive session where IAIS Committee Chairs, Vice Chairs and Champions provided updates on key IAIS projects and delivery against the IAIS Roadmap.

It is good to benefit from the extra inspiration and energy that come from interacting directly with colleagues, reminding ourselves of our core goals and objectives as we head into the final lap for several projects agreed in 2019 and strive for agility in responding to emerging risks over the horizon.

Following the progress updates, the floor was opened to a questions from the audience. Stakeholders probed further on the opportunities of sectoral and international coordination in area of diversity, equity and inclusion, FinTech and cyber; next steps and timelines in the ICS project; and the effective and efficient global approach to addressing climate risk and the insurance protection gap.

David Altmaier – Vice Chair, IAIS Executive Committee and Commissioner, Florida Office of Insurance Regulation
Gary Anderson – Chair, IAIS Policy Development Committee and Commissioner, Massachusetts Division of Insurance
Shigeru Ariizumi – Vice Chair, IAIS Executive Committee and Vice Commissioner for International Affairs, Japan Financial Services Agency
Peter Braumüller – Chair, IAIS Implementation and Assessment Committee and Managing Director of Insurance and Pension Supervision, Austrian Financial Market Authority
Jonathan Dixon – Secretary General, IAIS
Dieter Hendrickx – Chair, IAIS Macroprudential Committee and Head, Prudential Policy Insurance, National Bank of Belgium
Petra Hielkema – IAIS FinTech Champion and Chairperson, European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority
Helen Rowell – IAIS Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Champion and Deputy Chair, Australian Prudential Regulation Authority
Vicky Saporta – Chair, IAIS Executive Committee and Executive Director, Prudential Regulation Authority and Bank of England
Suzette Vogelsang – Vice Chair, IAIS Executive Committee and Head, Department (Banking, Insurance and FMI Supervision Department), Prudential Authority of South Africa
Daniel Wang – Chair, IAIS Climate Risk Steering Group and Executive Director, Insurance Department, Monetary Authority of Singapore

Inclusive insurance

How inclusive insurance can support sustainable development

The Covid-19 pandemic and current bleak economic outlook have exacerbated social inequality across both developed and emerging market economies. This panel discussed how inclusive insurance can address inequality and promote sustainable development.

Supervisors need to think creatively and act differently to foster financial inclusion, understand who the underserved are and how appropriate regulation can support financial inclusion.

Panellists contemplated obstacles to and opportunities for innovative solutions to increase inclusive insurance, including technological innovation, public-private risk-sharing initiatives to address protection gaps and possible changing product offerings to meet customer needs. Panellists also stressed the importance of financial education.

Moderator:
Suzette Vogelsang – Vice Chair, IAIS Executive Committee and Head, Department (Banking, Insurance and FMI Supervision Department), Prudential Authority of South Africa

Panellists:
Hannah Grant – Head of Secretariat, Access to Insurance Initiative 
Ilijana Jeleč – Deputy President of the Board, Croatian Financial Services Supervisory Agency 
Tomas Soley – Chair, IAIS Financial Inclusion Forum and General Superintendent of Insurance, Costa Rica
Shari Spiegel – Chief of Policy Analysis and Development, Financing for Sustainable Development Office, Department of Economics and Social Affairs, United Nations

Operational and cyber risk

Addressing accelerating operational and cyber risks in the insurance sector

At a time of increasing cyber risks, this panel focussed on the IAIS’ work on operational risks, cyber resilience and cyber underwriting risk. 

The panellists discussed several complex issues, including IT concentration risk, service providers management, single point of failure, the current state of the cyber insurance market, data availability and model maturity.

Panellists agreed that talent shortage is one of the main issues affecting the insurance sector’s exposure to cyber risk.

This panel also considered the work the IAIS is undertaking to gather data on cyber risks as part of this year’s Global Insurance Market Report special topic edition.

Moderator:
Gary Anderson – 
Chair, IAIS Policy Development Committee and Commissioner, Massachusetts Division of Insurance

Panellists:
Jad Ariss – Managing Director, The Geneva Association
Rebecca Bole – Head of Industry Engagement, Cyber Cube
Todd Coslow – Chair, IAIS Operational Resilience Task Force and Assistant Vice President, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago
Stefanie Ott – Managing Director, Head Group Qualitative Risk Management, Swiss Re

Holistic Framework

Finalising implementation of a comprehensive approach to assessing and responding to global market risks and trends

During this session, panellists discussed IAIS members’ approaches to and experience with the implementation of the Holistic Framework’s key elements of risk monitoring and supervisory policy measures for macroprudential purposes.

Industry and supervisors shared views on how the Holistic Framework is a significant step forward in how the lAlS is monitoring, assessing and responding to the potential build-up of systemic risk in the insurance sector.

Strengths of the Holistic Framework consist of taking a sector-wide and individual insurer view, seeking out systemic risks from common activities and exposures essential to keep abreast of emerging financial stability risks. Panellists also highlighted the benefits of bringing the global and jurisdictional perspective together.

Moderator:
Peter Braumüller – Chair, IAIS Implementation and Assessment Committee and Managing Director of Insurance and Pension Supervision, Austrian Financial Market Authority 

Panellists:
Clement Cheung – Chair, IAIS Audit and Risk Committee and Chief Executive Officer, Insurance Authority Hong Kong
Don Forgeron – President and Chief Executive Officer, Insurance Bureau of Canada and President, Global Federation of Insurance Associations
Andrew N. Mais – Insurance Commissioner, Connecticut
Jayne Plunkett – Group Chief Risk Officer, AIA Group Limited

Climate scenario analysis

Next steps in the journey to develop effective climate risk assessment

Given the systemic nature of climate risk and the critical stewardship role of insurers in the transition to net-zero, understanding and addressing the risks from climate change are a key priority for the IAIS.

Both the insurance sector and insurance supervisors are on a journey when it comes to climate risk scenario analysis and should see themselves as together on that urgent journey.

Panellists considered insurance supervisors’ practices on climate risk scenario analysis, focussing on the steps the IAIS is taking to support capacity building and international collaboration. The panel also investigated the importance of data for effective analysis and how this informs the climate data being gathered as part of the IAIS’ annual Global Monitoring Exercise.

Moderator:
Dieter Hendrickx – Chair, IAIS Macroprudential Committee and Head, Prudential Policy Insurance, National Bank of Belgium

Panellists:
Patricio Espinoza – Director of Prudential Insurance Regulation, Financial Market Commission of Chile
Hugh Francis – Director of External Reporting Developments, Aviva
Robert Muir-Wood – Chief Research Officer, Risk Management Solutions
Daniel Wang – Chair, IAIS Climate Risk Steering Group and Executive Director, Insurance Department, Monetary Authority of Singapore

Insurance Capital Standard

Countdown to the finalisation of the global solvency standard

As the IAIS reaches the mid-point of the ICS five-year monitoring period, IAIS members from four regions shared their perspectives on the development of the global standard. This session also served as the background session for the recently launched public consultation on the draft criteria that will be used to assess whether the Aggregation Method provides comparable outcomes ICS.

Participation in the ICS monitoring period is critical to help shape the final standard.

Panellists reflected on the development of the global standard, lessons learnt during the monitoring period and progress on the comparability assessment. Audience discussion centred on how stakeholder feedback will help to shape the finalisation of the ICS as a prescribed capital requirement.

Discussion with:
David Altmaier – Vice Chair, IAIS Executive Committee and Commissioner, Florida Office of Insurance Regulation
Shigeru Ariizumi – Vice Chair, IAIS Executive Committee and Vice Commissioner for International Affairs, Japan Financial Services Agency
Petra Hielkema – IAIS FinTech Champion and Chairperson, European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority
Vicky Saporta – Chair, IAIS Executive Committee and Executive Director, Prudential Regulation Authority and Bank of England
Suzette Vogelsang – Vice Chair, IAIS Executive Committee and Head, Department (Banking, Insurance and FMI Supervision Department), Prudential Authority of South Africa

Photo gallery

Speakers

David Altmaier

Vice Chair, IAIS Executive Committee and Commissioner, Florida Office of Insurance Regulation

Gary Anderson

Chair, IAIS Policy Development Committee and Commissioner, Massachusetts Division of Insurance

Shigeru Ariizumi

Vice Chair, IAIS Executive Committee and Vice Commissioner for International Affairs, Japan Financial Services Agency

Jad Ariss

Managing Director, The Geneva Association

Rebecca Bole

Head of Industry Engagement, CyberCube

Peter Braumüller

Chair, IAIS Implementation and Assessment Committee and Managing Director of Insurance and Pension Supervision, Austrian Financial Market Authority

Clement Cheung

Chair, IAIS Audit and Risk Committee and Chief Executive Officer, Insurance Authority Hong Kong

Todd Coslow

Chair, IAIS Operational Resilience Task Force and Assistant Vice President, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago

Jonathan Dixon

Secretary General, IAIS 

Patricio Espinoza

Director of Prudential Insurance Regulation, Financial Market Commission of Chile

Don Forgeron

President and Chief Executive Officer, Insurance Bureau of Canada and President, Global Federation of Insurance Associations

Hugh Francis

Director of External Reporting Developments, Aviva

Hannah Grant

Head of Secretariat, Access to Insurance Initiative

Dieter Hendrickx

Chair, IAIS Macroprudential Committee and Head, Prudential Policy Insurance, National Bank of Belgium 

Petra Hielkema

Chairperson, European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority 

Ilijana Jeleč

Member, IAIS Audit and Risk Committee and Deputy President of the Board, Croatian Financial Services Supervisory Agency 

Andrew N. Mais

Insurance Commissioner, Connecticut

Robert Muir-Wood

Chief Research Officer, Risk Management Solutions

Helen Rowell

Deputy Chair, Australian Prudential Regulation Authority

Stefanie Ott

Managing Director, Head Group Qualitative Risk Management, Swiss Re

Jayne Plunkett

Group Chief Risk Officer, AIA Group Limited

Ivana Ravlić Ivanović

Head of Sector for Banking, Accounting and Audit at the Ministry of Finance, Republic of Croatia

Tomislav Ridzak

Board Member, Croatian Financial Services Supervisory Agency

Victoria (Vicky) Saporta

Chair, IAIS Executive Committee and Executive Director, Prudential Regulation Authority and Bank of England

Tomas Soley

Chair, IAIS Financial Inclusion Forum and General Superintendent of Insurance, Costa Rica

Shari Spiegel

Chief of Policy Analysis and Development, Financing for Sustainable Development Office, Department of Economics and Social Affairs, United Nations

Suzette Vogelsang

Vice Chair, IAIS Executive Committee and Head, Department (Banking, Insurance and FMI Supervision Department), Prudential Authority of South Africa

Daniel Wang

Chair, IAIS Climate Risk Steering Group and Executive Director, Insurance Department, Monetary Authority of Singapore

Ante Žigman

Member, representative of Central and Eastern Europe and Transcaucasia region, IAIS Executive Committee and President of the Board, Croatian Financial Services Supervisory Agency

Danko Družijanić

Moderator, journalist

A special thank you to the Croatian Financial Services Supervisory Agency (Hanfa) for hosting the event.