Regulation, Supervision and Policy

The Regulation, Supervision and Policy (RSP) Working Group focuses on regulatory, supervisory and policy issues that affect the development, delivery and administration of microinsurance products for the poor.

News

The 3rd policy seminar on access to insurance, the challenges and opportunities for microinsurance policy, regulation and supervision, was held back to back with the 7th International Microinsurance Conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Supervisors from 26 countries and representatives of other public and private agencies participated in the seminar, which was jointly organised by the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS), the Access to Insurance Initiative and the Microinsurance Network. (more information)

The group also met for the second time this year in November at the 7th International Microinsurance Conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and information on next steps will be available soon.

Annual workplan

In 2011, the Regulation, Supervision and Policy Working Group will:

• Collaborate with the IAIS to draft the “Guidance paper on regulation and supervision supporting inclusive insurance markets”
• Carry out capacity building activities for insurance supervisors worldwide
• Participate at the 7th annual conference in Rio with a back-to-back Policy Seminar
• Engage in meetings of the IAIS-Microinsurance Network Joint Working Group in:
  • Washington
  • Basel
  • Seoul
  • Rio de Janeiro
• Continuously support the "Access to Insurance Initiative" in terms of:
  
  • Know-how, standards and capacity building
  • Its executive Secretariat at GIZ
  • Global activities and regional projects
• Contribute to the Network's Consumer Protection Task Force (integration with Joint Working Group)
• Address linkages with other Network Working Groups

Additional information

The objectives of the RSP Working Group are:

• The identification of regulatory, supervisory and policy barriers that prevent the low‐income market being served with microinsurance;
• The identification of ways and better practices to abolish barriers and meet the related challenges;
• The provision of operational and strategic guidance to policymakers, regulators and supervisors as well as donors, in terms of the creation of a conducive regulatory, supervisory and policy environment for sustainable growth in the provision of quality microinsurance services to the poor.

The RSP Working Group collaborates closely with the IAIS and formed the IAIS-Microinsurance Network Joint Working Group for better harmonisation of bilateral and multilateral engagement in RSP.

Past activities

2010

• The IAIS-Microinsurance Network Joint Working Group published an issues paper on the regulation and supervision of MCCOs
• Contribution to the G20 Financial Inclusion Expert Group
• Contribution to capacity building events supported by the Initiative
  
  • Dialogue events, microinsurance trainings and a policy workshop for supervisors
• Close working relationship with the Initiative:
  • Inputs to and recommendations for the approach, strategy and activities;

Other past activities include:

• Continuous exchange under IAIS-Microinsurance Network Joint Working Group with the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS):
  • Regular dialogue under Joint Working Group in over 30 meetings since 2006
• Knowledge generation:
  • "Issues Paper on Regulation and Supervision of Microinsurance"; published in June 2007, translated into Arabic, Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese;
  • "Making insurance markets work for the poor - microinsurance policy, regulation and supervision: five country case studies in South Africa; Uganda, India, Philippines, Colombia" (Funded by IDRC, BMGF, Finmark Trust, GTZ/BMZ); The objectives of this project were to map the experiences in a sample of five developing countries where microinsurance products have evolved and to consider the influence that policy, regulation and supervision have had on the development of these markets;
  • "Making insurance markets work for the poor: Policy, regulation and supervision"; This document presents the synthesis findings of the five country studies and extracts cross-country lessons for policymakers, regulators and supervisors looking to support the development of microinsurance in their jurisdictions;
  • Briefing Notes on five country studies to be published soon.
• Dissemination of results:
  
  • Regional Workshop on Microinsurance in Beijing, January 2008;
  • Open space session on Microinsurance at the Making Finance Work for Africa Partnership Forum in Ghana, June 2008;
  • FSI Policy Conference "Integrating Microinsurance into the Financial System ‐ Regulatory, Supervisory and Policy Issues", 16‐18 September 2008 together with Financial Stability Institute in Basel;
  • International Microinsurance Conference, Cartagena (2008).
  • Microinsurance Workshop, China (2009)
  • 1st Policy Workshop, Senegal (2009)
  • Regional workshop in Egypt (2009)

Mode of operations

A mode of operations to involve the larger Working Group will be drafted in 2010.