British regulators are proposing new requirements designed to hold senior executives in the insurance industry accountable for their conduct.
The UK Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) published a new consultation paper Wednesday that, it says, “aim to embed a clearer system of accountability and responsibility for senior individuals working for insurance firms and groups.”
Earlier this year, it consulted on a similar regime for the banking sector, and the PRA says that it believes that there should be a regulatory framework imposing similar standards for executives at both insurers and banks. However, the regime for insurers does not include the potential criminal sanctions that bankers face; nor the “presumption of responsibility” that exists in the banking regime.
The new regime will apply to senior managers who are running insurers, or who have responsibility for key functions, including the CEO, chief finance officer, chief risk officer, head of internal audit, chief actuary, and chief underwriting officer, among others.
Firms will have to allocate certain responsibilities, including specific responsibility for developing and embedding the culture of the firm, to one or more of these individuals. It also proposes to introduce new conduct standards for these individuals.
“Ensuring that senior managers of insurers are accountable supports our objective that firms should be run in a safe and sound manner. Policyholders are best served by insurance companies with senior managers who can be held to account and who are individually responsible for the decisions they make,” said Andrew Bailey, deputy governor, prudential regulation and CEO of the PRA.
The consultation closes Feb. 2, 2015.