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This note summarizes the findings and conclusions of the review of the insurance sector in Mali. The review was conducted as part of the 2015 financial sector assessment program (FSAP) in Mali. The main objectives of the review are to assess the structure, performance, and outlook of the insurance sector with respect to the potential for the sector to develop; and to contribute to the overall long term growth and development of the economy and the well-being of the country's population. The insurance market in Mali falls short of its potential today; however, its outlook is promising. This technical note looks at two questions: what role does the insurance sector play in Mali today?, and how can it play a more significant role? It highlights the potential of micro insurance and agriculture insurance in particular, and concludes with a number of recommendations.

This note aims to build understanding of the existing disaster risk financing and insurance (DRFI) tools in use in Fiji and to identify gaps where potential engagement could further develop financial resilience. In addition the note aims to encourage peer exchange of regional knowledge, specifically by encouraging dialogue on past experiences, lessons learned, optimal use of these financial tools, and the effect they may have on the execution of post-disaster funds. In 2012 alone Fiji experienced three major events with estimated total damage of F$146 million (US$78 million). Fiji is expected to incur, on average over the long term, annual losses of F$158 million (US$85 million) due to earthquakes and tropical cyclones. In the next 50 years Fiji has a 50 percent chance of experiencing a loss exceeding F$1,500 million (US$806 million). The country has a taken a proactive approach to DRFI and developed a finance manual for post-disaster budget execution. The government now has F$3 million (US$1.6 million) available in DRFI instruments to facilitate disaster response and also implemented tax concessions to encourage donations in the wake of tropical cyclone Evan. A number of options to support ongoing DRFI improvements in Fiji are presented for consideration: (a) the finance manual developed by the Ministry of Finance for post-disaster procedures should be finalized, and cabinet approval should be sought; (b) an overarching disaster risk financing and insurance strategy should be developed that includes options for risk transfer; and (c) assets should be identified in order to develop an insurance program for critical public assets.

This country note is produced is part of The Pacific Catastrophe Risk Assessment andFinancing Initiative (PCRAFI). The geographic spread of the Cook Islands poses logistical problems for any necessary post-disaster relief and response efforts. The events of 2005 demonstrated that the Cook Islands is extremely vulnerable to the threat of tropical cyclones (TCs): in the two months of February and March 2005, TCs Meena, Nancy, Olaf, Percy, and Rae swept the country. The Cook Islands is expected to incur, on average, about NZ$6 million (US$4.9 million) per year in losses due to tropical cyclones. In the next 50 years, the Cook Islands has a 50 percent chance of experiencing a per-event loss exceeding NZ$97 million (US$79.5 million. The Cook Islands has a proactive approach to disaster risk financing and insurance (DRFI), which is supported by the upper echelons of government. In January 2011, the prime minister in his role as chair of the National Disaster Risk Management Council requested that the Ministry of Finance and Economic Management look at ways to become self-reliant in initial disaster response and generate new income streams for investment in a fund specifically for disaster management response and recovery. The Cook Islands has available a maximum amount of NZ$5.6 million (US$4.6 million) in the form of contingency funds and catastrophe risk insurance to facilitate disaster response. A number of options for further improving the Cook Islands financial protection against disasters are presented for consideration: (a) the development of an integrated DRFI strategy; (b) investigation of using contingent credit to access additional liquidity post-disaster; (c) development of an operations manual for post-disaster budget mobilization and execution; and (d) the identification of assets to be included in an insurance program for critical public assets.

This assessment reviews the regulatory and supervisory developments in the insurance sector of Moldova. The current assessment is benchmarked against the insurance core principles (ICPs) issued by the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) in October 2011 and revised in 2012. The ICPs apply to all insurers, whether private or state-owned. Specific principles apply to the supervision of intermediaries. The assessment covers the supervisory practices of the Comisa Nationala a Pietei Financiare (National Commission for Financial Markets (NCFM)) which began operations in 2007. The recent decision to move from a pure compliance approach to a more risk based methodology needs to be gradual and carefully staged given the technical capacity constraints in Moldova. Insurer risk management is not universally developed so insurers will only be able to effectively move toward a more risk based approach in a series of small and quite specific steps, supported by regulatory clarity. Many shortcomings in the observance of the ICPs will be addressed by a well-structured transition to risk-based supervision (RBS). Group supervision, particularly operational level cooperation and communication with other supervisors, is also an opportunity and a priority. Ensuring the credibility of the regulatory regime will rely on transparent and sustained enforcement.

Senegal is implementing a Disaster Risk Management (DRM) framework and has established a public private agriculture insurance company. Rules, responsibilities and operational procedures need clarification, ideally guided by the findings of a fiscal disaster risk assessment. Insurance mechanisms are not considered in (sovereign) catastrophe risk transfer so far. Additional investment in and guidance with data market infrastructure would be necessary for sovereign DRM but would also benefit the spread of catastrophe property insurance for households, businesses and even low income populations who are beginning to see flood micro-insurance. With the public private agriculture insurance company, Senegal has a unique partner for rural outreach that could go beyond agriculture insurance. But the company would require technical support to achieve sustainability and find its role in the social protection framework. There is a unique window of opportunity for micro-insurance in Senegal as specific regulation is being implemented. This has generated momentum that can significantly grow the outreach of insurance but calls for technical and financial support. The most immediate opportunities for promising multi stakeholder interventions in Senegal are in agriculture insurance, where various initiatives have begun specifying the potential. Credit linked property micro-insurance against floods could be explored.

Donors could assist in clarifying the role, building the capacity, and potentially helping to secure funding of key disaster risk management organizations in Ghana. Engagement in Ghana to develop private sector property catastrophe risk and agriculture insurance should be seen as a medium term engagement. Banking penetration is low, as is insurance and micro-insurance penetration, even when compared to regional countries. That said, Ghana has seen rapid growth in the micro-insurance market with the number of people covered doubling in the last 3 years. The insurance industry, while competitive, has struggled in recent years with profitability, indicating there could be need for insurance capacity building and improved governance. There may be however opportunities for targeted investments in the northern part of the country more prone to drought, aimed at increasing disaster resilience among vulnerable population using market-mediated solutions. Links could be explored between social welfare programs and market-mediated insurance solutions. For example, the government plans to expand the coverage of the Livelihood Empowerment against Poverty Program (LEAP) by over ten-fold in the next three years. These mechanisms could scale up programs against post flood events or drought events in the north. Donors could support the integration of market-mediated insurance solutions within the social welfare programs. Using local insurance capacity to bear some of the risk and develop the insurance products could also be investigated. Such mechanisms delivered through social welfare programs will create a critical mass of policyholders, which could spur the development of commercial agriculture insurance.

This assessment focused on the supervision and regulation of the insurance sector and the role of the Financial Services Commission (FSC) in Mauritius. The FSC has responsibility for licensing and supervision of all players in the insurance market-insurance companies, distributors; loss adjusters; reinsurance companies; reinsurance brokers, and actuaries and auditors. This report relates to a dedicated assessment mission conducted in July 2011. The FSC maintains a fairly detailed website that contains copies of relevant laws and regulations applicable to insurance companies in Mauritius. Also available on the website are copies of guidelines of general application that have been issued to the insurance companies, statistics of the industry's performance, and copies of the annual reports issued by FSC. In addition to its discussions with FSC personnel, mission members met with representatives of the trade association and with executives of a representative sample of companies, both life and general insurance, operating in the market. Other contacts included brokers and auditors. The insurance sector in Mauritius is material although not fully developed in terms of size. Insurance premium stands at MUR 17.5 billion represented at 68 percent life and 32 percent non-life insurances. Life insurance growth has been more impressive than non-life insurance performance. Although both segments have shown healthy nominal growth rates, real growth has been less spectacular for the non-life sector. Interpreting non-life sector premium performance can be confused by global pricing cycles.

Insurance companies in China are closely supervised and generally subjected to appropriate regulation. The China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) employs a rules based framework and has achieved a high level of regulatory compliance from supervised companies. This assessment of the People's Republic of China's compliance with International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) Insurance Core Principles (ICP) was carried out as part of the 2010 Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP). The CIRC has principal responsibility over insurance regulation in China and conducts its duties through its headquarters in Beijing and 35 regional branches, the insurance bureaus. Insurance supervision is not limited to the CIRC, as it is affected by high level regulations issued by the state council.

Detailed Assessment of Observance This assessment is focused on the Superintendencia de Seguros de la Nacion (SSN) in Argentina. SSN has responsibility for regulation and supervision of all players in the insurance market. In addition to its role as a supervisor, SSN has powers to issue regulations, is responsible for advising the executive on issues related to insurance, and can propose draft bills. The laws are passed by the national legislative branch and enacted by the national executive branch. The assessment was performed using the 2007 version of the core principles for insurance supervision issued by the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS). This paper is structured into following four parts: part one is information and methodology used for the assessment; part two is institutional and macro prudential setting, part three gives summary assessment; and part four gives authorities' responses.

An inspection is an official examination or review. The term 'onsite' means that the inspection takes place wherever the subject of the inspection happens to be located. In the insurance sector, supervisory authorities perform onsite inspections of insurers and intermediaries. Inspections sometimes extend to other entities that can affect the operations of insurers and intermediaries, such as affiliated companies and providers of outsourced services. A full-scale onsite inspection is a wide-ranging look at the finances and operations of an insurer. It can greatly assist the supervisory authority in arriving at a comprehensive assessment of the insurer's risk profile, viability, and compliance with requirements. Full-scale inspections can consume a lot of supervisory resources. A focused inspection looks at selected aspects of an insurer's finances or operations. They can often be performed more quickly and with fewer resources than a full-scale inspection, which is particular important if a specific supervisory concern has arisen and needs to be investigated. The flexibility to use both full-scale and focused inspections, as the situation may require, enables a supervisory authority to use available resources effectively and efficiently.

The role of supervisory authorities undertaking prudential supervision is to promote the maintenance of efficient, fair, safe and stable insurance markets for the benefit and protection of policyholders. An effective supervisory authority is able to require an insurer to take timely preventive and corrective measures if the insurer fails to operate in a manner that is consistent with sound business practices or regulatory requirements. Traditionally, authorities have performed this role by way of compliance based supervision. Under this style of supervision, insurers must comply with a set of prudential rules generally written into the law or the subordinate legislation. The role of the supervisory authority is to ensure that insurers do, in fact, comply with these rules. In recent years, supervision has been evolving and moving from a style that is compliance based to one that is risk based. This progression has also been a feature of the activities of bank supervision and pension supervision.