Insurance regulation steals the headlines

IR&A takes a retrospective look at the many and varied events that made insurance regulation one of the biggest stories in the industry in 2007. We also look at what we can expect from 2008, and find that there is plenty already on the agenda.

A lot can happen in a year. And 2007 was no exception. In fact over the last 12 months insurance regulation became the real story over the normal business of insurance, especially given the absence of any major catastrophe losses. Some of the largest projects in insurance regulation reached fruition this year – from the publication of the framework directive for Solvency II in July to the long-awaited release of the first output from the IASB on IFRS for insurance Phase II and the FSA’s decision to reform general insurance regulation – and financial services regulation has stolen all the headlines, helped along by the Northern Rock crisis over the past few months.