##ntial supervision. the exchange of information is not, therefore, a one - way street ; it results in a beneficial symbiosis of macroprudential and microprudential knowhow, which will strengthen germany as a financial centre. regarding the low - interest rate setting : how will you collaborate specifically on this issue? hufeld : this issue demonstrates the importance of our cooperation. we can draw a reliable and comprehensive picture of the situation only if we take due account of both the relevant macroeconomic and macroprudential factors and the individual insurers ’ particular circumstances. and the ongoing period of low interest rates naturally also plays an important role in the financial stability committee. we must, therefore, grapple with a difficult subject at the very outset of our collaboration. however, i am sure that will only strengthen our cooperation. dombret : the current low - interest rate setting is making itself felt in all financial sectors. credit institutions and insurers must take this into account in their business plans. as the bundesbank has, for some years, been observing the effects of the low - interest rate environment on the financial system and, not least of course, on life insurers, i expect our cooperation with bafin to prove fruitful in this field, too. another key issue from both a macroprudential and a microprudential perspective is that of systemic relevance. the financial stability board ( fsb ) recently ranked nine insurers as global systemically important insurers ( see link below ). how important do you think this step is? dombret : the publication of this first list of global systemically important insurers marks another step on the path towards a more stable financial system. banks are not the only entities that can be systemically important – market infrastructures and insurers can be, too. the main factors determining an insurer ’ s systemic importance are, first and foremost, its interconnectedness within the financial system and the size of its non - traditional and non - insurance business. i therefore fully support the fsb ’ s recent move. however, it is clear that we still have a considerable way to go. we must now specify and finalise the regulatory consequences associated with this ranking. that will not be easy. just think of the challenge of creating, for the first time, a harmonised international basis for imposing potential capital surcharges in the insurance sector. hufeld : it is good

laid down the details in a joint administrative agreement, which at bafin applies to all areas of supervision. the need now is to breathe life into that agreement. we have looked at all the data that we or the bundesbank collect to determine for what prudential perspective they are relevant. certain data that are collected on a regular basis are exchanged continuously. bafin has access to all bundesbank data and information – and vice versa – to the extent necessary for each institution to fulfil its respective mandate. we will now work out how best to proceed in practice. should insurers fear that the exchange of information will be to their disadvantage? dombret : on the contrary. it is in their own best interests that we seek to maintain a stable financial system. the experience of recent years has clearly demonstrated the dangers associated with systemic risks and cross - sector contagion. hufeld : i agree. and what mr dombret just said of course applies equally to microprudential supervision. if the bundesbank shares valuable macroprudential insights with us, insurers bis central bankers ’ speeches and their policyholders will be the first to benefit. another advantage for insurers is that they will not need to establish a separate regular reporting channel to the bundesbank as we forward the data that we receive to the bundesbank. it goes without saying that the forwarded data will be treated confidentially since the bundesbank, just like bafin, is sworn to secrecy. what do the bundesbank and bafin do with the information? dombret : that is laid down in the legal provisions : we use the information to fulfil our respective mandates. for us, that means that we use the data provided by bafin to assess the stability of the financial system as a whole from a macroprudential view. bafin, in turn, uses our data and insights to effectively supervise insurers and thus ensure that they can honour their contracts on a long - term basis. as i mentioned earlier, the insights gained also feed into the consultations of the financial stability committee. hufeld : there are many ways in which the bundesbank ’ s macroeconomic and macroprudential expertise will be valuable to us. take the issue of the current low - interest rate phase. the bundesbank analyses and evaluates the information that we provide. we, in turn, can use the results for our microprude