International Insurance Council Closes
Washington
The International Insurance Council, the association focused on eliminating barriers to international trade in insurance, is closing its doors, a victim of its own success.
Gordon C. Stewart, president of the New York-based Insurance Information Institute and secretary to the board of the Washington-based IIC, said the board made the decision to terminate the IIC largely because its mission was accomplished.
Mr. Stewart said in an interview that with the opening of global insurance markets under such initiatives as the General Agreement of Tariffs and Trade, Chinas entry into the World Trade Organization and others, the board looked around and realized there were no more battles to fight.
"The battle was won," he said.
The issues facing U.S. insurance companies interested in global business today tend to be more market-oriented rather than related to government barriers, he said.
At the same time, he said, the number of U.S. insurance companies interested in global business has declined. Some years ago, he said, many insurance companies believed they needed to be global in order to compete. However, he said, some of these companies then realized the enormous challenge it takes to become a global player and decided to refocus on the domestic market.
Thus, he said, there has been a shake out in the number of global, U.S.-based companies, leaving a few very strong players.
Mr. Stewart noted that IIC was in an odd situation relative to other trade groups in that it had a limited mission. IIC was organized in the aftermath of World War II, with the mission of opening foreign markets, at a time when many countries emerging from the conflict had restrictive insurance markets.
With other trade associations, he said, one set of issues is replaced by another set. He noted, for example, that insurance associations today are dealing with issues such as terrorism insurance and toxic mold that are relatively new concerns.
But an organization such as IIC, which has a unique focus, is not able to shift to another set of issues once its mission is accomplished, Mr. Stewart said.
IIC worked to open international markets for the full range of insurance products, including life, non-life and pensions.
Reproduced from National Underwriter Property & Casualty/Risk & Benefits Management Edition, July 15, 2002. Copyright 2002 by The National Underwriter Company in the serial publication. All rights reserved.Copyright in this article as an independent work may be held by the author.
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