A2ii Newsletter 09/20
Welcome! In this newsletter, we provide you with updates on the work of the Initiative, events and publications, and experiences and learning on inclusive insurance regulation and supervision across jurisdictions over the past month.
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Covid-19 | Recent Events | Upcoming Events | Blog | Knowledge Hub Highlight
The A2ii taking precautionary measures related to Covid-19 (coronavirus)
To safeguard the well-being of the A2ii staff and its partners, the A2ii is cancelling or postponing all physical events through the end of the year and exploring the use of virtual formats when possible. Events that are scheduled to take place from January 2021 onwards are currently under review. The A2ii will communicate any changes pertaining to our events on our website, social media channels and through our newsletter.
Covid-19 Insurance Supervisory Response Tracker
We have created a special page on our website dedicated to tracking worldwide supervisory responses, insurance news and learning resources (such as webinars).
Please feel free to share relevant news with us via secretariat@a2ii.org, by tagging Access to Insurance Initiative on LinkedIn or by mentioning us on Twitter. Visit the tracker.
A2ii-IAIS webinars
This year, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the A2ii and the IAIS are hosting exceptional webinars covering different aspects of the crisis and helping supervisors in their response. This includes the upcoming three-part series on pandemic risk (three webinars, two of which are open to all stakeholders).
Recordings of our public webinar presentations are available on our website under past events and on our Youtube channel. In addition, for our supervisors-only webinars recordings can be found on the IAIS website, in the members-only area.
Summaries of the webinars can be found on our blog.
For more information visit the webinars' page.
Index Insurance Survey
The use of index insurance as an alternative to traditional indemnity-based insurance has increased over the last years, particularly as a mechanism for insuring extreme weather risks. More recently, the use of index insurance products has also been expanded to protect against other disasters, such as pandemic risk, with progress even being made at the sovereign level (e.g. the Pandemic Emergency Facility of the World Bank).
To inspire and help supervisors, and other stakeholders, better understand and assess index insurance, the Access to Insurance Initiative (A2ii) would like to invite you to participate in an online survey. Industry and development partners are invited to respond to survey available on this link and insurance supervisors to respond on survey available on this link.
These surveys aim to provide a stock take of the current state of index insurance. They will look at legal and regulatory challenges surrounding its definition as well as challenges from a prudential and market conduct perspective. In addition, the surveys aim to gather information about products available at different levels (micro, meso and macro) and how they have unlocked access to climate risk insurance. The deadline for response is September 30th.
SUGESE 12th anniversary event: contribution of insurance to sustainable development | 7 August
On the occasion of the 12th anniversary event of the General Superintendence of Insurance of Costa Rican SUGESE, the A2ii joined a distinguished panel discussing the contribution of insurance to sustainable development. Following brief welcoming remarks from Superintendent Tomas Soley, Butch Bacani of the UN Environment Program Principles for Sustainable Insurance Initiative (UNEP PSI) set the scene highlighting the triple role that insurance plays (risk manager, underwriter and investor) in supporting sustainable development as well as the work of UNEP PSI.
Hannah Grant, A2ii, spoke next about the important role financial inclusion plays not just in SDG 1 (‘no poverty’) but meeting most of the SDG commitments. A presentation was also made by Groupo Sura on its work to look at the impact of the group on the SDGs. The webinar ended with a joint commitment from leaders across the financial services sector in Costa Rica to work together to meet the SDGs.
The SUGESE has made available the links to the webinar and the presentations.
A2ii-ASSAL Webinar on Insurance for MSMEs: The protection gap exposed by Covid-19 | 27 August
The Access to Insurance Initiative (A2ii) and the Latin American Association of Insurance Supervisors (ASSAL) organised on 27 August a joint webinar on Insurance for MSMEs: The protection gap exposed by Covid-19 which was attended by 85 participants, from 20 countries. Gregor Sahler (GIZ) and Alejandra Díaz (MiCRO) offered participants different approaches on the topic, followed by a case study presented by Cristian Mora, from the Superintendencia Financiera de Colombia. While this topic is central to all economies, it has become a key one since the crisis caused by the pandemic Covid-19.
For example, in Latin America, MSMEs generate 60% of jobs and account for 25% of the region’s GDP. The webinar provided supervisors with a better understanding of the risks to which MSMEs are exposed and how insurance can help them develop resilience. Simultaneous interpretation into both Spanish and English was provided during the webinar. For more information, access the presentations on the A2ii website here.
Risk-based capital regimes in emerging markets - A2ii-IAIS webinar | 17 September, WebEx
Over the last two decades supervisors have been refining their solvency standards and gradually moving to more risk-based regimes. Much research has been carried out on specific regimes, in particular the US Risk-Based Capital (RBC) system and the European Solvency II. However, transitioning to a risk-based capital regime is taking place at a different pace across the globe and so far, less attention has been given to understanding the spectrum of regimes elsewhere.
The webinar will include participation from supervisors who will share some of the challenges and lessons they have learned from implementing a risk-based capital regime in their jurisdictions. This Webinar is also in anticipation of an A2ii Landscape paper on variations in solvency requirements across Sub-Sahara Africa, Asia and the Caribbean.
This webinar will be open to supervisors only. It will take place at 10am CEST in English (with simultaneous French interpretation) and 4pm CEST in English (with simultaneous Spanish interpretation). The webinar will last one-hour and will take place via WebEx.
Click here for more information or to register.
If you have any suggestions or topics that you would like the A2ii to specifically cover for this webinar, then please don’t hesitate to get in touch via consultation.call@a2ii.org.
IAIS-FSI-A2ii-AITRI/SARB virtual seminar on cybersecurity and data protection in the insurance sector – for supervisors from Asia and Africa | 25 September and 1 October
The virtual seminar will explore the topics of cybersecurity and data protection in the insurance sector and will consist of a combination of online study as well as attendance of the two live webinars. The seminar is hosted by the IAIS, the Financial Stability Institute, the A2ii and the ASEAN Insurance Training and Research Institute (AITRI) for Asia and the South African Reserve Bank for Africa. See our events page for more information.
Inclusive Insurance Training Programme for Caribbean supervisors | 28 September – 8 October
This training will be delivered virtually and is aimed at middle-to-senior level supervisors from Regulatory Authorities across member countries of the Caribbean Regional Technical Assistance Centre (CARTAC) who are either currently involved in or may have future oversight of the regulation and supervision of inclusive insurance (microinsurance) products. The topic is “Advancing Financial Inclusion and Dealing with Climate Risks: Innovation and Proportionality in Insurance.” Click here for more information.
Sub-Saharan Africa Regional Dialogue on InsurTech: Catalysing Access to Financial Services following Covid-19 | 15 October
Technology is transforming global financial services. Across Africa, it has tremendous potential to address market challenges such as scale and customer experience. This offers opportunities for everyone, not least the consumer, as technology can help deepen access to financial services especially in light of the Covid- 19 crisis. The global pandemic has far-reaching consequences for the financial sector in general, including the insurance sector.
This event is hosted by the A2ii, the United Kingdom’s Department for International Trade (DIT), FSD Africa, the IAIS and the UK-Nigeria Tech Hub. Click here for more information.
Blog
A throwback to 2019: old challenges of inclusive insurance remain by Hannah Grant
To overcome the social distance in online workshops is hard, even with the right preconditions, such as engaging content and participants who are mostly well-adjusted to using digital tools. As Covid-19 brought the world to a standstill, we chose to reformat our Inclusive Insurance Innovation Lab (iii-lab) - initially envisaged as an 18-months programme of six in-person workshops – into a fully virtual programme and to make it work. Continue reading...
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Publications
A2ii Annual Report 2019
A2ii presents the special Anniversary Edition of the A2ii Annual Report. A decade of successes can be attributed to our staff and partners’ unwavering commitment, to our donors’ continued support, and above all, to the insurance supervisors who have invested their time and expertise towards our shared goal of responsible and inclusive insurance for all. Read the A2ii 2019 Anniversary Annual Report for a sense of where we left off in 2019 and A2ii’s role in that, and remind ourselves how to get back on track to close the protection gap as we move ahead into the new normal.
French version of the Summary of the 15th, 16th, and 17th Consultative Forums in 2019
In 2019, three dialogue forums were jointly organised in Latin America, Africa, and Asia by the Access to Insurance Initiative (A2ii), the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS), Microinsurance Network (MiN) and InsuResilience Global Partnership, supported by local partners. The topic was “Climate and disaster risk: building resilience, bridging the protection gap”. The French version of the report is now available on our Knowledge Hub.
Knowledge Hub Highlight
Proportionality in practice: distribution
The A2ii Proportionality in practice case studies aim to provide practical guidance on how regulations have been implemented in a proportionate manner in order to achieve access to insurance and other insurance development goals, while being in line with the Insurance Core Principles. It is an effort to systematically collate practical examples from supervisors who have implemented or begun the process of implementing such proportionate regulations, and generate lessons from their experience.
Proportionality in practice: distribution looks at proportionality in regulations relating to distribution by drawing on the experiences of Ghana, Mexico and the Philippines. Proportionate regulation of distribution aspects can encourage the industry to offer inclusive insurance in two main ways. The first is by reducing the barriers to entry, such as via lower, more flexible or more tailored licensing requirements that allow the relevant types of distribution channels to operate. The second is by lowering the ongoing cost of doing business, and this can be done via adapting supervisory requirements such as reporting or minimum training requirements.
Read the Proportionality in practice: distribution in English, Spanish or French.
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