A2ii Blog Series on Coronavirus

Over the past few months, the economic impact of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) has become one of the greatest challenges facing the financial system since the 2008 financial crisis. 

In addition to the immediate and grave health concerns, we are seeing a much wider impact on all of our lives, the broader economy and the financial system. Understandably, this has created a great sense of unease around the world. In situations like these, we recognise the essential role of insurance. The protections provided to individuals, households and businesses are critical in helping people respond and ultimately recover from this crisis.

Over the past weeks, insurance supervisors around the world have taken unprecedented action to provide insurers with operational relief and additional flexibility so they can respond to this pandemic. At the IAIS, we have agreed on a wide range of steps that the IAIS can take to provide operational relief to our Member supervisors, insurers and other stakeholders, while continuing to further a globally coordinated supervisory response.
 
Through their special consultation calls on Covid-19 and through the launch of their supervisory response tracker, the A2ii is supporting exchange of information and promoting supervisory cooperation during this crisis. As it is said, global challenges need global action, and the first step towards such action is developing a collective understanding. The crisis also reminds us of the importance of taking steps to reduce the global protection gap, a challenge even more pressing in emerging markets and developing economies. Increasing access to insurance and ensuring appropriate coverage for customer needs will make economies more resilient by helping individuals and business recover. Here again, our partnership with the A2ii takes on more importance. We have seen significant progress over the past decade; however, as the crisis reminds us, more remains to be done. I look forward to working with the A2ii to address this challenge with even more energy in the coming years.