Insurance regulators from six East African countries have agreed to standardise the supervision of insurance companies, to increase the harmonisation of their insurance markets.
The move was agreed to at a meeting of commissioners and insurance supervisors from Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, which are members of the East African Insurance Supervisors Association (EAISA). The meeting took place on 16-18 September and was hosted by the Insurance Regulatory Authority of Kenya.
The regulators agreed to harmonise the template used to assess compliance with insurance core principles, creating a common basis for evaluating insurers across the region, the Kenyan newspaper The Star reported.
The industry supervisors are also working on a unified constitution for EAISA and a governance charter to provide a common institutional framework for the association.
EAISA Chair Protazio Sande said the harmonised approach would allow regulators to compare their insurance market with regional peers.
The regulators also agreed to :
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develop a regional integrated insurance supervisory platform that would allow information access and exchange in real time
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harmonise digital transformation practices in the insurance sector. Countries in the region are at different stages of digitisation. The regulators want to document these practices and share them across the region
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establish a common complaint management framework to improve policyholder protection.
The regulators said stronger coordination would improve supervisory effectiveness, facilitate information sharing and create more consistent standards for insurers operating in the region.