sector has expanded significantly over the last few years – and international collaboration is key to enable those organisations that are further ahead to encourage others to make similar, or perhaps even bigger, strides. i ’ m delighted to have been recently appointed as chair of the sustainable insurance forum ( sif ). sif serves as the platform for insurance supervisors and regulators looking to address sustainability issues, enabling collaboration, sharing of knowledge and identification of best practices. coordination at the international level – through platforms like the sif and also the network for greening the financial system ( ngfs ) – enables the development of consistent standards that can be implemented globally. just as importantly, collective action also reduces the risk of individual states undercutting on standards to gain a competitive edge – international consensus as a means of addressing collective action problems. i ’ m very pleased that the abi has chosen to focus on climate risk as one of the themes of today ’ s event. furthermore, the abi ’ s recent joining of the un environment programme ’ s principles for sustainable insurance initiative – the largest collaborative initiative between the un and the insurance industry – is an important step. this commitment to coordinated action between industry, regulators and governments alike is essential given the global nature of climate change impacts. all speeches are available online at www. bankofengland. co. uk / news / speeches and @ boe _ pressoffice conclusion there is clearly plenty of work left to do – but there are also plenty of opportunities to take. the united kingdom has a relatively unique chance to establish a new position within the international insurance system, maintaining strong links with the eu but also looking further afield ; whilst also ensuring that our regime is tailored best to fit our domestic requirements. we now have the ability to set our own direction. i have aimed here to set out what direction that might be – an approach that enables healthy competition, and the benefits competition brings, without sacrificing our reputation for strong prudential standards. all speeches are available online at www. bankofengland. co. uk / news / speeches and @ boe _ pressoffice

responsible openness in the insurance sector speech given by anna sweeney, executive director, insurance supervision association of british insurers prudential regulation webinar 25 may 2021 i would like to thank alex stephenson and other colleagues for their help in preparing this speech. all speeches are available online at www. bankofengland. co. uk / news / speeches and @ boe _ pressoffice thank you for the invitation to speak today, and to all of you for dialling in to this session. i believe technically at this point i could deliver this speech in person, but only to six of you at a time. i believe technically at this point i could deliver this speech in person, but only to six of you at a time – which would take all day and result in quite a long queue. however, i do look forward to attending events in person again and meeting many of you in future. i would like to focus on three issues today that i consider to be of particular importance as we move beyond the uk ’ s departure from the eu : 1. our role as a host for international insurance business ; 2. actions we can take to facilitate effective competition in uk insurance sector domestically and internationally in conjunction with high prudential standards ; and 3. our ongoing focus on international standard setting and policymaking, including in relation to climate change. competiveness and policyholder protection are sometimes portrayed as objectives at odds with each other. i would argue that far from being in conflict, competitiveness and high prudential standards complement each other – you cannot have one without the other. the uk ’ s status as a pre - eminent, global insurance market depends heavily on the robustness of the infrastructure within which it operates : a reliable legal system, for example, and a robust regulatory regime that allows policyholders, reinsurance cedants, and other counterparties to transact with confidence. i know that different parts of the market have different priorities. for some parts of the uk insurance sector – particularly life insurance – the priority is to address areas of solvency ii that you feel do not work as well as they could, whilst for others of you the primary focus is on maximising international market access. some of the changes to the prudential regime that we are considering within the review of solvency ii should result in changes across the sector : such as the reform of reporting requirements, and streamlining our approach to approval of internal models, all which should affect a wide