For the International Association of Insurance Supervisors, achieving globally acceptable principals for insurance supervision continues to be a work in progress, but members say they are closer than they've ever been to realizing that goal.

During a news conference yesterday, Peter Braumüller, IASA executive committee chairman and managing director for insurance and pension supervision of Austria's Financial Market Authority, says the association is much closer to "[promoting] effective and globally consistent supervision of the insurance industry."

"I think we have come a long way in the last 19 years since [the IASA] was established," said Kevin M. McCarty, NAIC president and Florida Insurance Commissioner. "The NAIC is a founding member of the IASA and I think our goals today are similar to when we were first established."

McCarty said that, when working to achieve global standards, members must be cognizant of "the differences that function well and stress the importance of common outcomes when looking for global convergence."

Regarding the identification of global systemically important insurers (known as G-SIIs), Braumüller said that determining the methodology and setting the standards should be completed by early next year. By the spring of 2013, plans call for coordination between the Financial Stability Board (an international financial authority and standards board) and other regulators to identify any global systemic insurers "if there are any."

When asked if there would be anything of substance coming out of the current IASA meeting in Washington, Braumüller pointed to the work of the group's committees and the build-up of consensus.

"What we are doing is very hard work behind the scenes by our committees, and I think the progress you will see is the reports we will issue [toward] a globally improved system," said Braumüller.

Therese M. Vaughan, NAIC chief executive officer, said her sense of the meeting is that "there has been a particularly good sharing of views."

She said that the sharing of divergent opinions has produced good progress, pointing to discussions around ComFrame, where members are trying to come up with a system that will be helpful to all regulators around the globe.

"It's an incremental process," said McCarty of the IAIS's work. "We have roadmaps and we are meeting our deadlines. The other part of what our organization does is education of its members of the core principals and how to implement the core principals. Identifying the important insurance issues and education is a critical part of our agenda."

Vaughan added, "We are struggling through how can you have more global supervision when there are some fundamental philosophical differences in some respects. But we are making very good progress."

Yoshihiro Kawai, IAIS secretary general, said the nature of the meetings has changed over the years from a philosophical discussion of regulation to technical discussions about insurance regulations with the aim of achieving a consistent regulatory future.

Special Reports /

IAIS Members Stress Positives in Global Regulatory Talks Despite Disagreements

Related Stories

Recommended For You