The Common Framework for the Supervision of Internationally Active Insurance Groups (ComFrame), adopted in November 2019 by the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS), establishes supervisory standards and guidance focusing on the effective group-wide supervision of Internationally Active Insurance Groups (IAIGs).

ComFrame is a comprehensive and outcome-focused framework aimed at facilitating effective group-wide supervision of IAIGs, by providing qualitative and (in a future phase) quantitative supervisory minimum requirements tailored to the international activity and size of IAIGs. This should help supervisors address group-wide risks and avoid supervisory gaps. One of the main objectives of ComFrame is to support coordination of supervisory activities between the group-wide supervisor (GWS) and other involved supervisors. As such, ComFrame will provide supervisors with a common language for the supervision of IAIGs.

As part of ComFrame, the IAIS is developing an Insurance Capital Standard (ICS), which aims to provide a globally comparable risk-based measure of capital adequacy of IAIGs. ICS Version 2.0, adopted by the IAIS in November 2019, will be used during a five-year monitoring period for confidential reporting to GWSs and discussion in supervisory colleges. The ICS will not be used as a group-wide Prescribed Capital Requirement (PCR) during the monitoring period. The purpose of the five-year monitoring period is to monitor the performance of the ICS over a period of time, and not the capital adequacy of IAIGs. In the second phase of implementation, after the monitoring period, the ICS will be implemented as a group-wide PCR for IAIGs as part of ComFrame.

The group-wide supervisor (GWS) is responsible for identification of IAIGs, in cooperation with other involved supervisors, after considering whether a group meets both the following criteria, provided in ComFrame:

• Internationally active:
  • Premiums are written in three or more jurisdictions; and
  • Gross written premiums outside of the home jurisdiction are at least 10% of the group’s total gross written premiums.
• Size (based on a three-year rolling average):
  • Total assets are at least USD 50 billion; or
  • Total gross written premiums are at least USD 10 billion.

In limited circumstances, described in ComFrame guidance, the GWS has discretion to determine that a group is not an IAIG even if it meets the criteria or that a group is an IAIG even if it does not meet the criteria.

The NBB has identified AGEAS SA/NV as an IAIG.

Further information on the supervision of IAIGs is available on the IAIS website.