Regulation brings unlevel playing field for insurers in Asia

Solvency II has prompted serious interest from the Asian insurance industry, but while regulators head down the risk-based route it is a long way behind the European model, causing problems for international groups competing with their local peers. Theodora Tsentas reports

The move to Solvency II in Europe has prompted a number of jurisdictions, both in Africa and Latin America, to adopt a similar approach to regulating their insurance industry. And with historic cultural and financial links to Europe, it would be reasonable to expect Asian regulators to follow their peers in South Africa and Mexico by instituting a similarly sophisticated approach to risk-based capital (RBC) regulation. But this has not proved to be the case.

Until the turn of the millennium