The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has issued the draft regulations for the information sharing with the name of Draft Centralised Information Sharing Solution for Insurance Industry (CISSII) Regulations, 2013.
The draft regulations have been published to solicit public opinion and comments from the stakeholders. In its first phase, the CISSII is meant for information sharing among the life insurance companies. This technology-based information sharing solution is being implemented by the Central Depository Company (CDC), which will provide the necessary technological infrastructure to develop and maintain this arrangement.
Earlier, the SECP as a part of its ongoing insurance reforms, emphasised the need of coordination between the life insurance companies regarding sharing of the critical information such as conduct of agents, postponed or declined life insurance risks and claims experience, among many others. It was proposed that a formal information-sharing mechanism be developed and managed by an independent body, possessing the capacity and technology infrastructure to manage such large data warehouse and support the efficient dissemination of the data. Accordingly, earlier this year, a memorandum of understanding was signed by all life insurers, and the CDC whereby the latter was mandated to develop and maintain information sharing solution.
Commissioner (Insurance) Mohammed Asif Arif has said that this information-sharing mechanism would help in bridging the gap of knowledge sharing and coordination in the insurance industry. He further said that this would also pave the way for a robust and technologically-efficient insurance industry envisioned by the SECP. The stakeholders opined that going forward the scope of the information sharing mechanism may be expanded to include non-life (especially health insurance) business as well.
