In this blog, Catherine Hock, Senior Vice-President, International Relations, ICMIF, looks back over 20 years of collaboration between ICMIF and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
Have you ever come across the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)?
Did you know it has been around for more than sixty years (1961) ‘to promote stronger, cleaner, fairer economic growth and to raise employment and living standards (….) by identifying key economic, social and environmental policy challenges and designing policies to improve the well-being of people around the world ‘; in other words, ‘helping member countries’ governments to formulate and implement better policies for better lives?’
Policy areas vary greatly and include ones as diverse as economy, education and skills, business and entrepreneurship, rural and urban development, finance and investment, employment, technology and innovation, climate change, and digital issues, to name just a few.
Naturally, the topics on top of the agenda change in line with priorities, challenges and common understandings of key challenges facing all of us.
Why am I telling you this?
Because the OECD has done dedicated work on insurance, which was first conducted through the Insurance Committee, created at the inception of the Organisation, and then renamed to become the Insurance and Private Pensions Committee (IPPC). In January this year, as part of a reorganisation of the Committee on Financial Markets and the IPPC and their sub-bodies, the work will be conducted through the Working Party on Insurance and Pensions (WPIP).
ICMIF as a global organisation committed to multilateralism, is regularly invited to attend as an international expert.
Looking back at nearly two decades of collaboration, what is the situation?
The issues presented at the Committee have been very topical and featured in high quality reports and/or guidance, such the Recommendation on Building Financial Resilience to Disaster Risks and the Recommendation on Guidelines on Insurer Governance. While OECD Recommendations can be described as ‘soft law’ (like the United Nations General Assembly resolutions), they have the potential to help generate proven outcomes.
For example, we were able to contribute to the Guidelines on Insurer Governance (which have a chapter dedicated to mutual insurers) for their 2017 edition and have provided input for the current planned revision. This helped increase the relatively low awareness of the mutual and cooperative models in insurance.
Moreover, building relationships with stakeholders – regulators, OECD civil servants and industry- who recognise that insurance is essential for the development of our societies, has been a source of encouragement not least because in national environments, the pivotal role of insurance is still too often underestimated by policymakers.
The first place where regulators exchanged information
In fact, the OECD was the first to establish an institutional cooperation between the authorities in charge of supervising private insurance (with a Recommendation underpinning this cooperation adopted in 1980). The OECD’s Insurance Committee was the only international body discussing insurance regulatory and supervisory issues. Since then, the 1980 Recommendation was abrogated in recognition of the International Association of Insurance Supervisors’ role as the global standard setter for insurance supervision and cooperation. It is, however, important to note that the OECD is still a standard setter, with a few legal instruments for insurance nonetheless. It provides a unique forum and knowledge hub for data, analysis and best practices in public policy on insurance-related matters. As such, OECD work on insurance provides valuable insight also to the IAIS and others.
While ICMIF exists primarily to assist its members in building and sustaining a purpose-led, resilient future focusing on their strategic priorities, I believe in the value of continuous exchanges within institutions like the OECD. Liaising with the OECD and the IAIS on specific issues is, moreover, featured in the Terms of Reference of the newly created ICMIF Public Affairs Working Group.
Indeed, the more we succeed in raising awareness of the mutual and cooperative insurer business model, the more this model will be able to develop and extend its influence throughout the world.
For more information on the ICMIF Public Affairs Working Group, please contact Catherine Hock.
