Newsletters

Welcome! In this newsletter, we provide you with updates on the work of the A2ii, events and publications, and experiences and learning on inclusive insurance regulation and supervision across jurisdictions over the past month.

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Recent Events | Upcoming Events | Blog | Scholarship Opportunity | Partner Events | Useful Tools on Our Website

 Recent events

Capacity Building for Insurance Supervisors: Actuarial Skills | 8-31 March 

The A2ii-IAA-IAIS training on Capacity Building for Insurance Supervisors: Actuarial Skills (Desarrollo de capacidades para supervisores de seguros: competencias actuariales) took place from 8-31 March. This was the first time that the training was offered in Spanish, and about 50 insurance supervisors from across the Latin American region took part in this oversubscribed course.  

The training was offered through a blend of self-paced modules on the Connect.A2ii platform and live sessions held online twice weekly, including a variety of lecture-based sessions, case studies, group sessions and quizzes, to help participants learn actuarial concepts and provide them with the tools for effective insurance supervision and regulation. Topics covered included risk management, valuation reports, reinsurance, risk-based capital, as well as key performance indicators to monitor for risk-based solvency. 

The training was taught by eleven expert actuaries: Jeff Blacker from the United States, and IAA volunteers Norma Alicia Rosas, Diego Hernández Rangel, Gerardo Lozano de León, Gerardo Rubio, Israel Avilés, Jesús Zúñiga San Martín, Jorge Avendaño Estrada, and José Gerardo López Hoyo from Mexico and José Martín Cantos and Javier Castillo García from Spain. We also welcomed Fernando Belaunzarán Barrera during a special session on IFRS 17 with the participants. For more information, see the programme on the A2ii website. 

5th Financial Inclusion Forum (FIF) plenary | 15 March 

The 5th Financial Inclusion Forum (FIF) plenary took place on 15 March focusing on the topic of inclusive insurance data and key performance indicators (KPIs). Tomás Soley, Superintendencia de Seguros Generales de Costa Rica (SUGESE) and Chair of the FIF, opened the meeting and welcomed the FIF members to the session. 

The scene was set by a “tour de table”, where supervisors shared what inclusive insurance data is being collected in their jurisdictions as well as challenges with data collection. The cost of collecting and analysing the data (on both the industry and the supervisors’ side) was mentioned by many as a key challenge. 

The following discussion was led by the session Champion, Mvelase Peter, Divisional Head: Insurance Supervision of the Prudential Authority at the South African Reserve Bank (SARB). In his capacity as the Chair of the Steering Group of the Sub-Saharan Africa KPI Reporting project he shared some background on the development and key components of the Inclusive Insurance Data and the Supervisory KPI Toolkit and Handbooks. To ensure that the data collected supports effective supervision his key recommendations to FIF members included: 

• Ensure financial inclusion data is expanded beyond prudential and market conduct data to also cover market development and the SDGs. 

• Ensure the jurisdiction’s financial inclusion priorities are reflected in the data being collected. 

• Collect short as well as long-term financial inclusion data. 

The 6th FIF Plenary session is scheduled for 30 June and will focus on reviewing regulatory frameworks for inclusive insurance – tools and approaches to measure and assess impact. 

IAA panel on gender gaps in financial inclusion | 30 March

This webinar on ‘Addressing gaps in financial inclusion’ was organised by the International Actuarial Association (IAA) as part of a schedule of activities organised in March to celebrate International Women’s Day. The panel discussion was moderated by IAA President, Roseanne Harris. A2ii Head of Secretariat, Hannah Grant spoke alongside Lisa Morgan, Health Actuary and Technical Specialist, ILO and Victoria Saporta, Chair of the IAIS Executive Committee. After some personal reflections on the influence of gender biases on their own career paths, panellists discussed some of the challenges women face in accessing insurance as well some solutions which are starting to emerge through the ILO and IFC’s community of practice. The need to collect gender disaggregated data came to the forefront, along with potential ethical dilemmas this might create for gender-based risk pricing and the risk of discrimination. The recording is not yet available, but please keep an eye on the diversity and inclusion page on the IAA website where it will be available in the coming weeks.

Upcoming events

A2ii-RFPI/MEFIN-MiN Asia Regional Dialogue on "The Role of Insurance and Data in closing the Climate Risk Protection Gap"| 17 May 

With climate change, natural disasters are becoming more frequent and severe. This affects developing and emerging economies in particular, because of a higher vulnerability that can be attributed amongst others to a strong reliance on climate-reliant activities such as farming. At the same time, there is a lack of accessible and affordable insurance services which would contribute to closing the climate protection gap, leaving large segments of society under-protected.  

Against this background, there is a need to assess the effectiveness of current insurance solutions against climate change related perils and the potential role of technology and data in closing the climate risk protection gap. 

This event brings together regional and international experts and practitioners to share their experiences and best practices that may help provide answers to the following questions: 

• Why is today’s insurance not good enough to close the climate protection gap? 

• What is the role of technology and data in pushing the limits for climate-related insurance services? 

• How do we move forward? 

This event will be hosted by the Access to Insurance Initiative (A2ii), the Microinsurance Network (MiN), and the GIZ-Regulatory Framework Promotion of Pro-poor Insurance Markets in Asia (RFPI) in partnership with the Mutual Exchange Forum on Inclusive Insurance (MEFIN).  

The regional dialogue takes place on 17 May 2022 from 9:00-11:00 CEST (17:00-19:00 PHT). Click here for more information and to register. 

Reflection on the Implementation of IFRS 17 - Supervisory Dialogue | 19 May 

What challenges do supervisors face, and what progress has been made before the IFRS implementation deadline in 2023? We will pick up from our last Supervisory Dialogue from 2021. Read our blog report on IFRS 17: Implications for supervisors and the industry for a refresher. Presentation will be made by an expert from the IMF who will share his experiences of supporting several countries to prepare for implementation of IFRS 17. There will also be case studies from supervisors sharing their experiences. 

Registration information will be available soon on our website. 

Blog

Mainstreaming gender in inclusive insurance – the time is now! By Manoj Pandey

On this International Women's Day, you would likely have read or heard it said that women represent the majority of uninsured in the world. This is widely accepted and is most likely the truth too. Though why do we say it's most likely the truth? We say so because we don’t have the data. We don't have any comprehensive data set on women's access to insurance, both on demand or the supply. Read more… 

Expanding access to health insurance in times of crisis and beyond | A2ii-IAIS Public Dialogue by Lukas Keller

It is hard to see silver linings in the developments of the past 18 months as a global pandemic has wreaked havoc on the world economy, upending millions of lives and livelihoods. Yet, there is reason to hope that the crisis will provide new impetus to progress on several key development objectives, with the expansion of broad-based health coverage rightfully ranking as a leading priority. Read more… 

Scholarship Opportunity

Apply for a scholarship for the “Seguros para el Desarrollo” course | 6 May 

La Iniciativa de Acceso a los Seguros (A2ii) ofrece dos becas completas para supervisores de seguros para el curso en línea Seguros para el desarrollo. Las becas cubrirán los costos de la matrícula y se otorgarán mediante un proceso de solicitud competitivo para el cual se tendrán en cuenta criterios como país (con preferencia hacia aquellos clasificados por el Banco Mundial como de ingresos bajos o medianos bajos), dominio del idioma español, capacidad de demostrar cómo la formación beneficiará a su trabajo y capacidad para implementar las lecciones aprendidas del curso. 

Para participar, debe: 

1. Registrarse en el curso en línea completando el formulario de registro. 

2. Enviar un correo solicitando la beca a impactinsuranceacademy@itcilo.org con el asunto: “Solicitud de la beca A2ii” incluyendo nombre, información de contacto y país, nombre del cargo y posición en el supervisor de seguros, años de experiencia en seguros inclusivos. También debe enumerar al menos tres razones por las que asistir al curso beneficiará su trabajo y al sector de seguros inclusivos en su país. 

La fecha límite para realizar la solicitud es del 6 de mayo de 2022, y el proceso de selección se dará por concluido el 20 de mayo de 2022. Se les notificará a los interesados la decisión de los organizadores. 

Si tiene consultas al respecto, escriba a impactinsuranceacademy@itcilo.org  

Partner Events

IAIS Workshop on FinTech Issues | 11 May 

On 11 May, IAIS is hosting members-only workshop on FinTech issues. If your authority is an IAIS member, you are kindly invited to join. 

In March, the FinTech Forum finalised notes which present the outcomes of three deep-dive assessments on: 

• Use of Application programming interfaces (APIs) and open data 

• Distributed ledger technologies (DLTs) and blockchain 

• Safe, fair and ethical adoption of Artificial intelligence (AI) and Machine learning (ML) and the use and governance of data. 

The notes are available on the IAIS Members Extranet 

The Members-only workshop will be organised on 11 May, from 14.00 – 16.00 CEST (Basel time) to discuss these topics in greater detail. You may register here. Details to join will be sent to you automatically. 

Apply for the Spring NAIC International Fellows VIRTUAL Program | 29 April 

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) invites you to apply for the Spring NAIC International Fellows VIRTUAL Program taking place 16-20 May 2022. The program will feature recorded lectures by NAIC technical experts covering all aspects of U.S. state-based insurance regulation, with opportunities for participants to engage with NAIC staff in order to gain deeper insights into how insurance is regulated in the U.S. and the role of the NAIC in supporting state-based regulation. Click here for more information and to apply. The deadline is 29 April. 

Useful Tools on Our Website

Insurance and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

The SDG pages include resources on the importance and the role of insurance across nine SDGs: 01 No Poverty, 10 Reduced Inequalities, 02 Zero Hunger, 03 Good Health and Well-being, 05 Gender Equality, 08 Decent Work and Economic Growth, 09 Industry Innovation and Infrastructure, 13 Climate Change and 17 Partnerships for the Goals.

Supervisory KPIs Lexicon

Interactive, searchable directory of KPIs for insurance supervisors across four pillars: prudential soundness, market conduct, insurance market development and the Sustainable Development Goals.

Inclusive Insurance Regulations Map

The interactive map incorporates data about existing inclusive insurance regulation and regulation which supports inclusive insurance sourced through A2ii's research, work and interaction with supervisory authorities worldwide. 

ICP Self-assessment Tool

The tool is intended to help supervisors assess the level of observance of the Insurance Core Principles (ICPs).