Time for regulators to pause for breath

The volume and pace of regulatory change is in danger of itself creating risk by detracting from the ability of insurers' senior management to run their business.

Speaking at Insurance Europe’s conference in June, Jean-Jacques Henchoz, chief executive officer, reinsurance, for Europe, Middle East and Africa at Swiss Re, remarked to delegates that he finds himself hiring more regulatory team members than underwriters, a trend that cannot be good for the industry, he observed.

The complaints of insurers about the burden of regulation are well-rehearsed, but as Solvency II approaches implementation and with the added weight of international regulatory