The Belgian insurance industry was adversely affected by the global financial crisis and continued to confront challenges related to legacy assets and economic uncertainties in Europe. The Belgian authorities have made significant progress in updating the insurance regulatory regime and...

This paper discusses key findings of the Detailed Assessment of Observance of Insurance Core Principles for France. The assessment reveals that insurance regulation and supervision are still predominantly carried out using a Solvency I approach. The insurance sector remained resilient through...

Nigeria undertook a Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP), which included a review of the structure of Nigeria’s insurance market and the supervisory framework. The assessment was benchmarked against the Insurance Core Principles (ICPs) issued by the International Association of...

In South Africa, long-term insurers experienced some strains during the financial crisis, but there were no crisis-related failures. The capital markets suffered sharp declines but no systemic failures. The three standards assessments have found the regulatory system fundamentally sound. The...

In this paper, the structure of Colombia’s financial sector is analyzed and various risks of the financial sector are studied. Supervision of the financial system can be performed by supervisory architecture, banking supervision, various securities, and insurance policies. Systemic...

The insurance sector is underdeveloped and has been inadequately supervised to date, as the regulator lacks the requisite independence, skills, and resources. The three public pension systems, which cover less than 10 percent of the active population, appear to be fiscally unsustainable. The...

This paper discusses key findings of the Financial System Stability Assessment Report on Barbados. Barbados has a relatively well-developed financial system, including a large offshore sector. The onshore system is dominated by large, regionally active banks. Banking services to the population...

The Financial System Stability Assessment found the financial sector to be vibrant, resilient, highly competitive, and well supervised and regulated. Stress tests showed credit institutions and insurers to be highly resilient to a variety of shocks. It also found a high degree of observance of...

This paper presents the Slovak Republic’s Financial System Stability Assessment Update including Reports on the Observance of Standards and Codes on Banking Supervision and Insurance Regulation. Commercial banks are by far the dominant financial institutions, though nonbank financial...

This technical note discusses key findings of the assessment of Insurance Core Principles (ICP) for the reinsurance industry for Switzerland. It reveals that the Swiss reinsurance market is dominated by three large players with a strong international presence. The reinsurance industry comprises...