Auditing firm PricewaterhouseCoopers UK (PwC) has commended major global insurers for responding well to what it calls the “enormous challenge” posed by the shift from local Generally Accepted Accounting Principles to new International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) established by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB).

The Life Settlements Model Act that governs the secondary market in life insurance policies in the US may be heading for a complete overhaul. This was the message that came out of the National Conference of Insurance Legislators’ (NCOIL) summer meeting in July.

The 26th Regime, a proposed but little known element of pan-European legislation, could become a reality. If adopted, it would bridge the legislative divide between European countries, creating much-needed harmonisation and common ground...

The Association for Cooperative Operations Research and Development’s (ACORD) efforts to promote the adoption of uniform standards by the world’s insurance, reinsurance and related financial services industries appears to be paying off handsomely.

Insurers and banks have proved themselves to have the lowest risk of default in the North American financial services industry. This is the conclusion drawn by rating agency Moody’s Investors Services following a study of the correlation between bond ratings and issuer failures between 1983 and 2004. During this period the number of financial institutions with bond ratings grew from about 150 to 1,800.

Last year was a watershed for South African life insurers as they faced up to scores of negative rulings against them by pension funds adjudicator Vuyani Ngalwana. All rulings related to heavy penalties imposed on clients for early termination of payments into savings products or for reducing contributions, and resulted in Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel stepping in to settle the issue.

Financial services group Fidelity International’s UK managing director, Richard Wastcoat, has come out strongly in support of the Turner Report’s proposals on the future of the UK’s pension system.

The US life insurance policy settlement market, which is potentially worth as much as $160 billion, has been likened to the 1849 gold rush in California. However, while participants in the life settlement market hail its benefits to consumers, the formal life industry is calling foul...

After a three-year wait, Lord Turner’s Pension Commission has unveiled its proposals for the restructuring of the UK’s national pension system in a 460-page report, entitled A New Pensions Settlement for the 21st Century.

The International Association of Insurance Supervisors’ (IAIS) annual conference and general meeting held in Vienna in late October proved to be a momentous one as supervisors and insurance industry representatives from 100 countries adopted sweeping directives and guidance papers on key issues facing insurers and regulators.