GFIA Global Federation of Insurance Associations

GFIA has written to the incoming Italian presidency of the Group of 20 (G20) to outline the significant role that the global insurance industry can play both in addressing current societal challenges and in supporting a long-term sustainable economic recovery post-COVID-19.

As one of the largest institutional investors in the world, the insurance industry has more than $30 trillion of assets available for investment in bonds, equity, infrastructure and elsewhere. GFIA said it would therefore support any focus by the G20 on long-term investment that continues the work of past presidencies to support growth and productivity in the global economy.

Equally important is the need to address the challenges created by ageing societies, where ensuring a diversified, multi-pillar pension landscape and incentivising private savings will be crucial.

To facilitate this, regulators must ensure that insurers can continue to play their role in providing long-term savings products, as well as longevity and morbidity risk protection products.

GFIA also outlined how the global insurance industry can provide significant support for governments’ efforts to promote sustainability and mitigate the effects of climate change through their expertise in risk management, as well as their ability to invest in long-term sustainable assets to support the transition to lower carbon economies.

Insurers also have a genuine interest in developing sustainable international trade. GFIA takes the view that international economic and financial cooperation has a key role to play in fostering inclusive and sustainable growth, and that open, well-regulated insurance markets allow the optimum geographic and economic spread of risk and underpin long-term economic growth.