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...

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...

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 International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) Insurance Core Principles for the United States. Most U.S. insurers write primary insurance on U.S. risks. The U.S. market is characterized by low market...

This report presents a Detailed Assessment of the Observance of the Insurance Core Principles Report on Jersey. Other than the international business, most cover is obtained from insurers based overseas by the large insurance broker community on the island. There is no ombudsman and no...

The staff report highlights that the insurance sector in Sweden is well developed and mature. The captive insurance segment is mainly driven by tax advantages. This assessment provides an update on the significant regulatory and supervisory developments in the insurance sector of Sweden since...

In recent years, the IMF has released a growing number of reports and other documents covering economic and financial developments and trends in member countries. Each report, prepared by a staff team after discussions with government officials, is published at the option of the member country.

The insurance industry in Australia has weathered the global financial crisis well and was resilient to the catastrophic events in 2010/11. The insurance industry is mature but relatively small compared to the banking sector. Assets held by insurers represented only about 8 percent of the...

This paper presents Detailed Assessment of the United States’s observance of Basel Core Principles for Effective Banking Supervision. The U.S. financial system is large and highly diversified. At the end-2007, total U.S. financial assets amounted to almost four and a half times the size...

The design of the German banking supervision framework is structurally sound, with a robust legislative and operational framework that largely complies with the Basel Core Principles for effective banking supervision (BCP). Various improvements to the German supervisory framework have been...