MUSCAT: A key seminar, titled ‘Middle East and North Africa on Climate Risk Supervision and Protection Gaps’, organised by the Capital Market Authority (CMA) in cooperation with the Insurance and Social Reserve Control Authority of the Kingdom of Morocco, began here on Tuesday.
It is being attended by representatives from the two countries, as well as insurance industry officials from the MENA region.
In opening remarks, Abdullah bin Salim al Salmi, CEO of the Capital Market Authority, explained that the seminar was the culmination of cooperation between the CMA and the Insurance and Social Reserve Control Authority in Morocco. It stems from an MoU signed by the two sides in March.
Supporting the seminar are the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS), the Access to Insurance Initiative (A2II), the Sustainable Insurance Forum (SIF) and the regulatory authorities in the region. “It is our hope that this coordination and cooperation between us will continue to ensure the exchange of experiences and capacity-building in areas related to our regulatory and supervisory competencies,” Al Salmi said.
The forum, the Executive President said, comes at a pivotal time in the Middle East and North Africa region as countries grapple with the effects of climate change, while at the same time adopt advanced dynamic and sustainable insurance policies to adapt to these changes and mitigate their effects.
Protection of policyholders in the Sultanate of Oman is guided by three main regulatory pillars: ensuring that insurance products and services reach all segments of society, the response of the sector or market to the needs of society and the economy, and the availability of these services and products at fair prices and high quality, he said.
These pillars form part of the Authority’s strategic five-year plan (2021-2025) which, among other things, envisions a 10 per cent average annual growth in the performance of the insurance sector, in line with the priorities of Oman Vision 2040.
He pointed out that with the economic and social transformation envisaged by Oman Vision 2040 and the climate changes that the world is going through, these pillars have become more sensitive and vital, especially as the Sultanate of Oman has become one of the areas prone to natural disasters as a result of climate change, especially since 2007, and thus the insurance risks and coverage have increased.
According to Siham Ramli, Director of Communication and International Relations at the Insurance and Social Reserve Control Authority in the Kingdom of Morocco, the seminar represents a valuable opportunity to examine the roadmap of the International Association of Insurance Supervisors on climate risks, and to explore the views of regulatory bodies on the challenges facing insurance markets in the Middle East and North Africa.
She added that the symposium is an occasion to promote engagement in the activities of the Access to Insurance Initiative and the Sustainable Insurance Forum on protection gaps and climate risk monitoring, noting that the development of the insurance sector and making it able to contribute to economic development requires engaging in a strategy based on cooperation between countries.
On its first day, the seminar discussed many topics related to climate risk stewardship, and the first session touched on the regulatory challenges in the MENA region, during which many challenges were discussed such as risk-based solvency frameworks, digitisation, financial inclusion and market development, as well as common issues facing insurance markets and ways to overcome them.
The seminar will conclude today with a discussion of the role of supervisors in bridging protection gaps related to climate risks, discussing the supervisory procedures followed by insurance supervisors to increase resilience in the face of climate risks, and a workshop will be held on topics related to the customer's journey and building the capacity of supervisors. — ONA
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