High-level meeting on global insurance standards and supervisory priorities in the Americas, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, 12 April 2018

Press release  | 
16 April 2018

Representatives from various Latin American and Caribbean insurance supervisory authorities, the Association of Insurance Supervisors of Latin America (ASSAL), the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) and the Financial Stability Institute (FSI) of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) met in Santo Domingo at the Second High-level Meeting, hosted by the Superintendencia de Seguros Républica Dominicana, the Dominican Republic's regulatory authority for insurance.

The event was co-chaired by Ms Norma Alicia Rosas Rodríguez, President of ASSAL and President of the Comisión Nacional de Seguros y Fianzas in Mexico, Mr Jonathan Dixon, Secretary General of the IAIS and Mr Fernando Restoy, Chairman of the FSI.

Mr Euclides Gutiérrez Félix, Superintendent and host, welcomed the meeting participants, emphasising the need for continuous cooperation on both a regional and international level.

In the opening remarks, Mr Restoy focused on the changing risk landscape and the difficulties in capturing and quantifying emerging risks, while Mr Dixon emphasised the vital contribution of insurance to economic growth and the crucial role of effective regulation and supervision in supporting it. Ms Rosas described the ongoing modernisation of regulatory frameworks in the region and the importance of best supervisory practice.

In the first session on insurance regulatory reforms, Mr Dixon presented the latest standard-setting and implementation activities of the IAIS, while supervisors in the region reported on various regulatory reforms. The session also focused on regulatory research based on an analysis of countries' risk-based capital frameworks.

Emerging risks and new developments in the insurance market were presented in the second session. Emerging risks that supervisors need to be aware of were described and the challenges in capturing them. New developments and risks may also require structural changes in the supervisory organisation. The need for supervisory independence is another important driver of change, something which the new supervisory organisation in Chile, the Financial Market Commission, testified to.

The third session described the concept of proportionality and the rationale for applying it to regulation. Various aspects were presented, ranging from sophisticated prudential frameworks such as the European Union's Solvency II to market conduct regulation related to financial inclusion.

The last session focused on cyber-risk management and insurance. Examples were given of cyber-threats, while outlining the challenges in identifying, quantifying and managing them.

The chairs agreed in their summing up that there are many challenges that supervisors need to tackle, concluding that an exchange of experiences between supervisors and international organisations is a valuable tool in meeting these challenges.

The meeting was attended by 48 participants and speakers from 28 institutions and 24 countries. The represented countries from the region were Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, the Netherlands Antilles, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Spain and Uruguay.

 

Note to editors

The FSI was jointly created in 1998 by the BIS and the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision. The FSI's main objectives are to (i) promote sound supervisory standards and practices globally and support full implementation of these standards in all countries; (ii) keep supervisors updated with the latest information on market products, practices and techniques; (iii) provide a venue for policy discussion and sharing of supervisory practices and experiences; and (iv) promote cross-sectoral and cross-border supervisory contacts and cooperation.

These objectives are achieved through the production of FSI Insights on policy implementation and other publications, meetings and conferences with senior officials and FSI Connect, the BIS's web-based learning tool for financial sector supervisors. For more about the FSI, visit www.bis.org/fsi.