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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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Events Calendar 2020
We have recently updated our calendar for the rest of the year with our events, trainings, workshops, seminars, and partner events. Please follow the link to inform yourself of events relevant to you.

Recent Events
 

Insurance Development Forum Operational Committee Meeting 
16-17 January, London, UK

The meeting was well attended by a broad range of private sector, public sector and international organisations all with interest in helping to extend the use of insurance and its related risk management capabilities to countries vulnerable to disasters and the associated economic shocks. In the opening exchange, the participants, including the A2ii, shared what work they already have underway as well as their plans on the topic of climate risk.   

The discussion then focused on the partnership announced at the UN Climate Summit between the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), Insurance Development Forum (IDF), the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).  The goal of the partnership is to help achieve the InsurReslience Vision 2025 of increasing the resilience of 500 million individuals against climate and disaster-related shocks. The participants explored how IDF’s multi-stakeholder membership could work together in supporting the achievement of this goal.

Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion Symposium, Plenary and Workshop
22-24 January, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

This was the first meeting of the Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion (GPFI) under the Saudi Arabian G20 Presidency.

The panel discussions on the first-day symposium were focused on the Saudi Presidency’s key GPFI priorities of digital financial inclusion of youth, women and Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs). At the GPFI Plenary meeting that followed the symposium, government ministries from G20 and also non-G20 countries along with implementing and affiliated partners (including the A2ii) discussed the GPFI deliverables under the Saudi presidency. The final day consisted of a workshop where further work to re-structure the GPFI was discussed along with the development of the GPFI’s next 3-year work plan – Financial Inclusion Action Plan 2020.

Climate risk insurance for the underserved and vulnerable: what is the role of insurance supervisors to foster its responsible development – A2ii-IAIS Consultation Call
30 January, WebEx

To kick off our consultation call webinar series in 2020, the first call drew on the recent A2ii thematic report on the role of insurance supervisors in climate risk insurance.

Through an interactive dialogue between supervisory representatives and insurance sector practitioners, participants on the call were able to hear what supervisors can do to encourage the development of responsible climate risk insurance markets, how supervisors can leverage on the insurance industry’s risk management expertise to build resilience and how supervisors can champion climate risk insurance awareness among policymakers to ensure that it is seen as a piece of the puzzle of disaster risk management.

In the English and French calls, we heard from Mathieu Dubreuil (Senior Insurance Advisor, World Food Programme (WFP)), while in the Spanish call, Paula Pagniez (Director, Capital, Science & Policy Practice, Willis Towers Watson) shared her perspective as a practitioner in the insurance sector. Luc Noubissi and Cedric Miakwang from the Inter African Conference for Insurance Markets (CIMA) contributed to the discussion by sharing their supervisory views in the French and English calls respectively, while Rafael Cestero Lopategui (Chief Deputy Insurance Commissioner, Oficina del Comisionado de Seguros, Puerto Rico) represented the supervisory views in the Spanish call. The dialogue in all the sessions was moderated by Andrea Camargo (director of Inspowering and technical expert of the A2ii). Keep an eye on our website here where a summary report of the call will be published.

Recent Publications

Final report - the first Inclusive Insurance Innovation Lab 2017/2018

The final report has been published for the first Inclusive Insurance Innovation Lab 2017/2018. The iii-lab brought together a wide range of stakeholders of the inclusive insurance sector from four participating countries - Albania, Ghana, Kenya and Mongolia. From November 2017 to December 2018, participants engaged in dialogue and mutual learning, and developed innovative solutions towards increasing the uptake of insurance. The iii-lab consisted of a series of national and international workshops as well as ancillary calls in between. Photos of the first iii-lab can also be seen in our photo galleries.

Report on Cyber Risk in the Insurance Sector - A2ii-IAIS Consultation Call

Globally, cybersecurity threats are on the rise, and there is a growing concern over the impact that cybersecurity incidents have on the financial sector as a whole, including the insurance sector. With the increasing use of technological innovations and the use of FinTech, personal data is now more readily available and subject to cyber-attacks. This consultation call explored critical issues concerning cyber threats and incidents in the insurance sector, regulation and supervision of cyber risks as well as the applicability of the ICPs to cybersecurity, drawing from the recent IAIS Application Paper and Issues Paper published on cyber risk.

Upcoming Events

Seminar on risk-based supervision for francophone supervisors (Séminaire pour contrôleurs d'assurance francophones: Défis et enjeux du contrôle basé sur les risques dans les marchés émergents)
3 – 5 March, Saly-Portudal, Senegal                                                                                                                                                                This seminar in French language is organised by the DNA Senegal, CIMA, ACPR, the IAIS and the IBFI. For more information and the registration form, please visit the A2ii French events page.

The Second Inclusive Insurance Innovation Lab 2020/2021
4-5 March, Argentina, India, Morocco and Rwanda
We are about to kick off the national workshops for the iii-lab (please check Events and Training for further updates). Argentina, India, Morocco and Rwanda have been chosen to participate and first national workshops will be held in each of the participating countries. The country teams will unite for the first time and spend two days getting to know each other and starting a dialogue on the on-going issues in their countries regarding access to insurance.

Coping with Common Challenges in Developing Insurance Markets training programme for insurance supervisors and regulators
9 – 13 March, Johannesburg, South Africa                                                                                                                                                    This programme is jointly organised by the Southern African Development Community, the World Bank Group and the Toronto Centre. This program is designed to help regulators and supervisors identify the developmental challenges in their insurance markets. It will examine common problems in developing insurance markets and how well-designed regulation and supervision can help overcome these challenges. The program will provide regulators will tools to assess the level of competition in the insurance market, how to assess the efficiency of compulsory markets – particularly for motor insurance – and what regulatory and supervisory tools (from risk-based capital adjustments to enforcement techniques) can be used to address identified problems.For more information, visit the A2ii Events page.