PROGRESS REPORT OF THE ASEAN INSURANCE FORUM
1The ASEAN Insurance Forum (AIFo) was endorsed by the 2nd ASEAN Finance Ministers’ and Central Bank Governors’ Meeting (AFMGM) in 2016. The AIFo aims to strengthen the collaboration between the Working Committee on Financial Services Liberalisation (WC-FSL) and the ASEAN Insurance Regulators’ Meeting (AIRM) to facilitate coordination in supporting regional insurance integration.
2The inaugural meeting of the AIFo was held in Yogyakarta, Indonesia on 24 November 2016, followed by the 2ndmeeting in Singapore on 15 March 2017. The discussions at AIFo have focused on the following areas:
(i)Developing a Roadmap for ASEAN Insurance Integration Framework (AIIF);
(ii)Strengthening ASEAN’s capacity; and
(iii)Regulatory issues relating to the implementation of insurance liberalisation and integration
3Roadmap for ASEAN Insurance Integration Framework(AIIF).Building on the high-level AIIF which was endorsed at the 17th ASEAN Finance Ministers Meeting (AFMM) in 2013 and the ASEAN Economic Community 2025 Strategic Action Plans (SAP) for Financial Integration 2016 – 2025 endorsed by the 2nd AFMGM in 2016, the AIFo is developing a Roadmap for the AIIF. The Roadmap will provide the broad direction for the implementation of the insurance liberalisation targets in the SAPand the sub-sectors identified for liberalisation in the AIIF. The AIFo is also developing guiding principles for the Roadmap. The AIFo aims to conclude discussions on the guiding principles and Roadmap that will be endorsed at the 4th AFMGM.
4Strengthening ASEAN’s capacity.Private sector experts, academia and multilateral organisations have made presentations at the inaugural and 2nd AIFo meetings on topics of interest and areas identified by members as capacity building needs. These include presentations by the National Reinsurance Corporation of the Philippines (PhilNaRe), MAIPARK Indonesia (a reinsurance company specialising in catastrophe risk), the Institute of Catastrophe Risk Management (ICRM), AIR Worldwide (a catastrophe modelling firm) and the World Bankon catastrophe reinsurance-related issues. The AIFo will also engage the ASEAN Insurance Training and Research Institute on capacity building programmes for cross-border supervision to support insurance liberalisation.
5Regulatory issues relating to implementation of insurance liberalisation and integration.The AIFo conducted a survey of members’ regulatory frameworks and impediments for cross-border international Marine, Aviation and Transit (MAT) insurance, complimented by a sharing of experiences among members in formulating their respective regulatory framework for cross-border MAT insurers. Following the survey, members have agreed to work on several initiatives to achieve greater consistency in members’ MAT regulatory framework. These include: (i) a common definition for international MAT insurance, and (ii) handbook on members’ MAT regulatory frameworks.
6The 3rd Meeting of the AIFo will be held in Lao PDR in November 2017 in conjunction with the annual ASEAN Insurance Council (AIC) and AIRM Meetings.
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