U.S. Treasury requests comments on global reinsurance market

As part of the Dodd-Frank Act the U.S. Treasury are required to provide a report to Congress on the breadth and scope of the global reinsurance market and the critical role reinsurance plays in supporting the provision of insurance in the United States. Section 502 of Dodd-Frank requests the report from the Federal Insurance Office (FIO) no later than September this year and now the FIO have issued a request for comment giving the reinsurance industry and any interested parties the chance to have their voice heard.

The FIO has invited commenters to submit their view on:

1. The purpose of reinsurance.
2. The breadth and scope of the global reinsurance market.
3. The role that the reinsurance market plays in supporting the provision of insurance in the U.S.
4. The effect of domestic and international regulation on reinsurance in the U.S.
5. The role and impact of government reinsurance programs.
6. The coordination of reinsurance supervision nationally (in the U.S.) and internationally.
7. Any other relevant topics.

The Federal Insurance Office was created by Dodd-Frank in 2011 and is tasked with monitoring the insurance sector, identifying any risk of systemic crisis in the insurance industry or any gaps or issues in regulation that need to be addressed.

This process could be an ideal time for any issues to be raised that concern you in the reinsurance industry it also offers an opportunity to help the FIO and the U.S. Treasury to better understand the role that alternative risk transfer and capital market solutions are now playing in provisioning reinsurance. Instruments such as insurance-linked securities, catastrophe bonds, industry-loss warranties and collateralized reinsurance covers are bound to be included in this report so it is vital that any thoughts or ideas you have are aired as part of this process. This is also an ideal time to feedback on any Dodd-Frank regulation which you feel could be impinging on the reinsurance sector and convergence market where capital market investors provide reinsurance protection via financial instruments. It would be particularly relevant to air any more concerns about the Volcker Rule now as well.

You can submit your comments electronically to the FIO or via mail and details on how to make a submission can be found here.