The International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) has acknowledged the importance of digital innovation and, specifically, the role of SupTech in the “new normal”. In this paper, SupTech refers to the use of innovative technologies by insurance supervisors to support their work.
There is a need to improve understanding of the potential of SupTech to aid insurance supervision. Interactions with insurance supervisors also show that there is strong interest in sharing specific solutions, experiences, practices and lessons learned on the use of SupTech.
This paper aims to contribute to filling this gap by citing concrete examples of how SupTech tools are used by 22 insurance supervisors from both prudential and conduct perspectives. The paper provides an overview of SupTech use by insurance supervisors based on reported use cases. It provides examples of SupTech tools that are being assessed, developed or used by insurance supervisors for various activities – from data collection to data analytics. It explores how these SupTech tools are identified, developed and used; how effectiveness is measured; how such tools were used during the pandemic; and other SupTech tools that insurance supervisors are interested in having or developing. In doing so, the hope is that the paper will provide a valuable resource to insurance supervisors to better understand SupTech based on the experiences of their peers. Such understanding can pave the way for a more informed approach in undertaking any SupTech work.
