Around the world, countries are transitioning their insurance markets to more risk-based capital (RBC) regimes to ensure that insurers have sound financial positions and hold adequate levels of capital. This, in turn, enables the insurance sector to withstand shocks, continue to operate and pay policyholders’ claims. The Global Financial Crisis taught us this lesson; the Covid-19 pandemic is a harsh reminder.

This is a reflective time for the A2ii team. Around this time of the year, we gather to look ahead to our next year’s work plan. We discuss supervisory needs, policy developments and innovations around the world. This year, however, discussions have been anything but ordinary. We have been confronted with the challenge of framing the planning for 2021 in light of the global pandemic and considering different playout scenarios.

To flatten the curve of Covid-19 and save lives, countries have widely accepted social distancing, off shooting the slowdown of economic activity worldwide. Where remote work is not an option, reduced contact measures mean reduced earnings. For populations of low-and-middle-income countries, the cost of social distancing is proving higher than for those in developed countries.

In the midst of the COVID-19 crisis, insurance should be a primary mechanism for many people across the world to cope. Instead, the limited penetration of insurance products in developing countries has pushed insurance to the periphery. However, all is not lost. Insurers still have a key role to play in getting societies back to work through the support of enterprises and, in doing so, building consumer confidence in the insurance sector more widely.

During the month of April, the A2ii saw the launch of the exceptional A2ii-IAIS Consultation Calls webinar series on Covid-19 and its implications for supervisors. In times of crisis, where there is a continuous flow of new information and rapidly evolving developments, the webinars have proved to be a purposeful platform for supervisors to exchange information and share best practice.

The fight against the global pandemic has imposed new dynamics for how we live, work and interact with our friends and family. We do not know what our lives will look like in the months to come, but many people will likely fall into poverty, and many businesses will not manage to bounce back. The most severely affected are vulnerable populations who face a higher personal economic risk due to a lack of savings or alternative coping strategies.

In light of the ongoing Covid-19 situation, regulators worldwide have been forced to respond quickly in terms of prudential and consumer protection measures, as well as operational relief. To date, prudential measures have been observed to be stronger in the banking sector. The scale of impact on the solvency positions of the insurance sector is still unfolding, and so most insurance supervisors are currently closely monitoring insurance assets and liabilities, investment portfolios and liquidity, all the while maintaining constant engagement with insurers.

The coronavirus pandemic presents an opportunity for all stakeholders involved in promoting access to insurance to be more empathetic with those who usually lack financial resilience and to realise the urgent need to narrow the insurance gap to make them more resilient. This crisis should provide the insurance industry and supervisors with the impetus to enable and promote innovation to unlock access to valuable insurance products for those who need them the most and build trust in a responsible insurance market.

In December 2019, before COVID-19 unfolded into a global crisis, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and Bank of England published a joint consultation paper on how to strengthen operational resilience in financial institutions. The new requirements were in response to IT failures within the financial sector. Most strikingly the proposals introduce a new paradigm of outward-facing awareness where firms must factor in their impact on their customers and the financial system as a whole. Firms should no longer consider operational resilience to be constrained within their balance sheet. In hindsight, this was a timely publication, and these proposals were a clear precursor to the UK regulators’ response to COVID-19.

It has been sixteen years since India enacted the first microinsurance regulation in 2005. Now, at least 30 authorities across 43 markets have implemented dedicated inclusive insurance regulation, and others have adopted other regulatory approaches that are supportive of inclusive insurance.