Female insurance leadership unlikely to grow this decade
There is unlikely to be a surge of women in leadership roles in the insurance industry any time soon. That’s the finding of a global poll by services firm EY which revealed that just 6 per cent of insurers believe there will be significant increase in female leaders in the industry in the next five years.
The survey across 23 countries found that 72 per cent of senior leaders in the insurance industry expected a ‘slight’ increase in female leadership and there was also widespread acknowledgement of the benefits of gender diversity in senior roles, however just 38 per cent of insurance firms surveyed formally measure progress towards gender parity.
“Getting more women to the top requires identifying, developing and then promoting potential leaders. Yet, only 33 per cent of female and 58 per cent of male financial services leaders believe they are effective at promoting women into leadership positions,” commented Tara Alex, EY Global Insurance Diversity & Inclusion Leader.
There is a wide gap between senior male and female executives on availability of female candidates; 52 per cent of men thought there was a shortage compared to 8 per cent of women.
Canadian life insurers could face tougher capital requirements
Canada’s financial regulator has launched a public consultation on proposals to replace the current capital adequacy guidelines for life insurance companies. The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions Canada (OSFI) has developed the Life Insurance Capital Adequacy Test (LICAT) to replace existing guidelines which were introduced in 1992.
LICAT takes into account lessons learned from the financial crisis, recent developments in financial reporting standards, actuarial standards, economic and financial practice, and international trends in solvency frameworks.
"The LICAT guideline represents an evolution in OSFI's regulatory capital expectations," said Deputy Superintendent Mark Zelmer. "It is consistent with OSFI's mandate to protect policyholders and other creditors while allowing life insurers to compete and take reasonable risks."
It is not expected to increase the overall amount of capital in Canada’s life insurance industry but individual insurers will assess is they need larger reserves depending on the risks they are assuming.
Australian insurer offers shark attack coverage
There were 665 shark attacks on people in Australia during 2015 with 232 of them fatal. Now, Mona Vale Insurance Company has partnered with a surfing club to offer coverage for around 100 bucks a year. The policy will pay out AU$50,000 in the event of death caused by a shark attack. It’s believed to be the first insurance of its kind in the country although it has been indirectly part of travel insurance policies.
