What’s New: In Brief (November 03, 2009)

Nineteen insurance companies representing the majority (55%) of market share currently use credit-based insurance scores, according to a 2009 survey completed for the Canadian Council of Insurance Regulators (CCIR). 
The survey also found that six companies, representing a further 6% of market share, plan to use credit-based insurance scores within the next three years.
The results above appeared in a power point presentation prepared by Anatol Monid, director of market regulation for the Financial Services Commission of Ontario (FSCO).
Monid was discussing regulators’ use of surveys and questionnaires at Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC)’s Ninth Annual Regulatory Affairs Symposium.

The autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) intends to publish guidelines for consultation concerning the accountability, probity and integrity of corporate directors and officers.
In remarks prepared for the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC)’s Ninth Annual Regulatory Affairs Symposium, AMF superintendent of solvency Danielle Boulet said the guidelines are due to be issued in the near future.
Boulet fell ill and could not attend the symposium.  Her prepared text was delivered by Grant Swanson, director of licensing and compliance at the Financial Services Commission of Ontario (FSCO).
“In the near future, we will publish our financial expectations related to the probity and integrity of directors and senior officers,” Boulet said in her remarks. “We will require that board members and individuals in higher management positions to meet rigorous criteria.”
These include a requirement for decision-makers to be accountable. Also, standards will be articulated on sound investment management and risk management relative to derivatives.
Boulet drew a comparison between the AMF initiative and the so-called ‘Walker Review’ in the United Kingdom.
In February 2009, the United Kingdom prime minister asked Sir David Walker, a former regulatory chair, to review corporate governance in U.K. banks in the light of the global recession and credit crisis.