OTTAWA, March 27 /CNW/ - The Canadian Life and Health Insurance
Association (CLHIA) and six other international insurance associations, which
together represent the vast majority of the global insurance business,
presented a unified statement yesterday to the G20 leaders in advance of their
April 2nd Summit in London.
"This initiative, undertaken by leading insurance associations, reflects
our joint commitment to encourage G20 leaders to continue down the path of
risk- and principles based regulation while strengthening regulatory
cooperation around the world," said Frank Swedlove President of the CLHIA.
The stated goals of the G20 Summit are to take necessary actions to
stabilize global financial markets, reform and strengthen the global financial
and economic system, and chart a new course towards sustainable economic
growth.
In the statement, the insurance industry lays out principles for the G20
leaders to consider. These include gearing prudential regulation to reflect an
insurer's level of risk and diversification; addressing accounting issues to
improve the applicability of fair value accounting; and equipping regulators
to supervise a globalized insurance industry and guard against systemic risks.
Furthermore, in light of an increase in instances of trade protectionism, it
is crucial that G20 leaders renew and expand upon their commitment to a
standstill on trade and investment barriers made at last November's G20 Summit
in Washington, D.C.
With respect to the Canadian insurance industry, the sector as a whole is
strong and continues to be well capitalized. "Canadians can be assured that
companies are well positioned to meet any obligations to their policyholders,"
Frank Swedlove noted.
Canadian life and health insurers are an international success story,
with over half of the industry's premium income generated from outside Canada
while a majority of its employees reside in Canada. With assets of almost $900
billion under management in Canada and abroad, the industry has a substantial
stake as well as a strong interest in decisions affecting the global financial
services industry.
Established in 1894, the CLHIA is a voluntary association whose member
companies account for 99 per cent of Canada's life and health insurance
business. The industry provides a wide range of financial security products
such as life insurance, annuities (including RRSPs, RRIFs and pensions) and
supplementary health insurance to about 26 million Canadians.
See below for the international insurance associations' letter to G20
leaders.
March 25, 2009
Dear Prime Minister Brown:
As representatives of the global insurance industry, we would like to
take this opportunity to pledge our support to you, as Chair of the G20
Summit, as well as to the rest of the G20 leaders in advance of your meeting
in London on April 2nd. Together, we represent the vast majority of the global
life and health and property and casualty insurance industry.
Insurance has a fundamentally different business model from banking.
While not immune to the financial crisis, with very few exceptions, the
insurance industry entered this crisis from a position of relative strength.
It is therefore important that solutions devised to solve problems in the
banking industry are not automatically applied to insurance.
In that light, we would like to express to you our willingness to work
with governments, regulators, and agencies to improve upon the regulatory
capacities governing the financial services industry both in and between
countries. As the issue of financial services regulation will form an integral
part of your discussions during the Summit, we highlight, for your
consideration, some principles to form the basis for improving regulations in
the financial services sector.
First, we believe the global financial crisis has made clear the need for
regulators to converge on a risk-based approach to their supervisory
activities. Just as central banks around the world adjust interest rates
depending upon the degree of risks facing an economy, so should regulators
employ a dynamic system for governing financial services providers. Last
October, the industry came together to express the view to the International
Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) that it is essential that the
trend towards an economic-, risk- and principles-based system of regulation
continue.
Secondly, recent events have raised awareness of the hazards of not
properly monitoring international groups and the systemic risks associated
with them. The inconsistency of having a globalized insurance industry on the
one hand and a 'siloed' national approach to regulation on the other must be
reconciled. Insurers have structured their businesses to meet global business
needs. Fragmented regulatory structures around the globe need to be overhauled
to prevent regulatory protectionism, just as regulatory bodies need to
co-operate, and regulatory practices need to converge. For these reasons, we
fully support the focus of the G20, the Financial Stability Forum (FSF), and
the IAIS on the need to better monitor global systemic risks. The IAIS is the
insurance industry's established international standard setter and as such we
believe it should be, to the greatest extent possible, the mechanism through
which group-wide solvency standards are developed and implemented (in
particular for systemically important groups).
We are encouraged by the IAIS's recent response to November's G20 Action
Plan and to recommendations flowing from the four working groups set up in the
FSF. Most notably, we support the IAIS in its stated commitment to begin
monitoring the activities of multinational insurers and to share and promote
its expertise and standards with other jurisdictions. It is our hope that
further discussions on this issue are transparent and that, as the regulated
industry, we have the opportunity to work collaboratively with you in arriving
at outcomes.
We would also ask that the FSF incorporate private savings for retirement
into its activities. The International Organization of Pension Supervisors
(IOPS), the international body representing the supervisors of occupational
private pension arrangements to international organizations, is ideally suited
to complement the role of the IAIS within the FSF.
We support the combined work of the IASB and the FASB on the Financial
Crisis Advisory Group. While the IASB and the FASB have been responsive to
some of the needed accounting changes through emergency actions taken over the
past six months, there continue to be significant accounting issues that, we
believe, need to be addressed to further improve the application of fair value
accounting.
Finally, we also believe that, at a time when countries around the world
are considering changes to existing regulations or implementing new
regulations in response to the global financial crisis, immediate steps should
be taken to stop the spread of trade protectionism. As WTO Director-General
Pascal Lamy has indicated, the standstill on protectionist measures agreed to
by the leaders of the G20 and APEC has been breached in both letter and spirit
since those commitments were made late last year. We invite G20 leaders to
renew and extend their commitment to a standstill on trade and investment
barriers. We would also ask, as suggested through the November G20 meeting,
that there be a mechanism, like the WTO, through which countries' commitment
to the standstill measure could be monitored and discussed.
In addition, the 2005 guidelines on corporate governance of state-owned
enterprises (SOEs) being discussed within the OECD Investment Committee should
be expanded to include G20 countries and their terms of reference should be
developed expeditiously. Taking swift action on this will avert any
misinterpretation that a given intervention could create a competitive
advantage for a particular entity.
The undersigned associations believe a greater focus on economic
risk-based regulation both from the standpoint of individual jurisdictions and
on a global systemic basis should be a key public policy objective insofar as
it could help to mitigate the impact of a similar financial crisis in the
future while also providing additional protection to policyholders and
beneficiaries. We urge leaders to consider that regulation and prudential
requirements for the insurance sector should be closely attuned to levels of
risk and diversification, and provide strong incentives for sound risk
management. At the same time they should also encourage healthy competition,
they should not be a barrier to international trade and investment, and they
should be generally supportive of the crucial role insurance companies play in
making stable long-term investments in economies around the globe.
Sincerely,Association of British Insurers (ABI)
Association of Bermuda Insurers and Reinsurers (ABIR)
American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI)
Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association (CLHIA)
Dublin International Insurance & Management Association (DIMA)
The European Insurance and Reinsurance Federation (CEA)
Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC)
For further information: Media enquiries: Janice Hilchie, Vice
President, Legislative Relations (613) 230-0031
