The Bermuda Monetary Authority, Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory
Commission and the Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht,
Germany’s financial supervisory authority, have become the first
three regulators to sign the International Association of Insurance
Supervisors’ (IAIS) Multilateral Memorandum of Understanding (MMoU)
aimed at strengthening international cooperation efforts between
regulators.
According to IAIS, the MMoU will assist insurance supervisors
improve the effectiveness of cross-border supervision of insurance
companies and contribute to the global effort to ensure that
systemically important financial institutions are appropriately
regulated.
“Strong and effective cooperation and information exchange are key
to preserving financial stability,” stressed Richard Walker,
chairman of the MMoU’s Interim Signatories Working Group.
“The MMoU has a crucial part to play in this,” he added.
Walker explained that each authority applying to be a MMoU
signatory undergoes a rigorous and independent validation process
to ascertain whether the minimum standards of the MMoU are
satisfied.
“Signatories can therefore take comfort that the information they
exchange is properly protected,” said Walker.
The IAIS reports that applications from 17 supervisory authorities
to become MMoU signatories are currently being validated. The IAIS
represents insurance regulators and supervisors of some 190
jurisdictions in nearly 140 countries.
