Access to Insurance Initiative Newsletter 10/2015

Welcome to our newsletter, where we update insurance regulators and supervisors on the work of the Initiative and inform you about events and publications.

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Recent Events

IAIS-A2ii Consultation Call on “Financial Consumer Education”
|24 September 2015|

During the 12th series of IAIS-A2ii Consultation Calls more than 50 supervisors from 30 different jurisdictions (Africa, Asia, Caribbean, Latin America, Europe and North America all represented) discussed the role of insurance supervisory authorities in developing and implementing effective national financial literacy and consumer education strategies. Special attention was paid to the relationship between supervisory authorities and other stakeholders including policy-makers and the industry in consumer education.

Four calls were held – two in English, one in French and one in Spanish.

In addition to the technical input presentations at the beginning of each of the calls, examples of different approaches to this topic were shared with the participants.

On the English call the Philippines Insurance Commission presented how it has promoted financial literacy and education based on a Roadmap on Financial Literacy developed as part of a broad multi-stakeholders approach. Improving financial capability was one of the drivers that helped increase the number of insured persons in the Philippines from 3m in 2009 to 28m in 2013.

On the French call The Tunisian Supervisory Authority shared with participants the changes it is making to its insurance law to strengthen its focus on consumer protection and to ensure a better service and information are provided to consumers. The changes include revisions to the part dealing with intermediaries, the inclusion of corporate governance requirements and the creation of a consumer protection department within the General Insurance Committee (Comité Général des Assurances, CGA).
As part of the Authority plans to strengthen consumer protection and better inform policyholders it recently launched a website to disseminate information on the Tunisian insurance market including information on insurance products and legislation. The authority is also working on the Q&A section of its website where people can obtain helpful information on important questions related to the use of insurance products. During the discussion, the representative from the Tunisian Supervisory Authority emphasised the need to cooperate and work together with the industry, government and associations to further increase financial literacy in Tunisia including by possibly conducting awareness campaigns at school level as well as through media and associations.

On the Spanish Call, results of different studies were presented, showing that insurance take-up not only requires increased knowledge about insurance concepts but also changes in consumer behaviour. In Colombia, the Insurers’ Association Fasecolda developed a financial education program, which was also presented on the Spanish call. They explained how radio and workshops have been used as a cost-effective method to disseminating financial education programs to low income populations.

Discussions emerged around the following questions:

• What are the costs of financial education campaigns and who should pay?
• What best practices are emerging for financial education activities developed as part of a national financial literacy strategy?
• Should the private sector participate in national financial education strategies?
• What are the pros and cons of insurance supervisors working independently of the national strategy?
• What indicators can be used to measure the level of knowledge/education of the population in terms of insurance?

Please follow the link to download the expert presentations and country examples in English, French and Spanish. A full report of the call will follow soon.

The next Consultation Call will take place on 26 November. If you are not currently on our mailing list and would like to receive the invitation for the next call in November please send an email to: consultation.call[at]a2ii.org.

Recent Publications

Now available in French: Report of the 10th IAIS-A2ii Consultation Call on "Actuarial Approaches to Inclusive Insurance"
Compte-rendu de la 10e Consultation téléphonique A2ii-AICA « Approches actuarielles pour les marchés d’assurance inclusifs »

4th Consultative Forum Note: “Encouraging the industry in Africa to provide sustainable insurance services to the unserved”
The note summarises the outcomes of the 4th AIO-A2ii-IAIS-Microinsurance Network-ILO Consultative Forum and Policy Seminar on microinsurance regulation for insurance supervisory authorities and insurance practitioners, which took place on 27 and 28 May 2015 in Tunis, Tunisia.