Thursday 2 June 2011

OECD and Corporate Governance - anything new?

I had a leaf through the OECD's guidance for Corporate Governance structures in insurance companies. It doesn't add very much to the materials already on the table in the UK and Ireland (indeed most countries with a reasonably up-to-date corporate governance code!), and rehashes a lot of terminology already in play.

The recommend the head of the risk function should be a "non-operational key executive, such as a Chief Risk Officer" - good support for the function which doesn't appear in existing governance codes or Solvency II system of governance guidance.

They struggle with their Actuarial function guidance on the premise that the function (and indeed the role of appointed actuary) on the premise that these are not compulsory in all OECD countries, but what they deliver is almost verbatim Solvency II.

Also of note is their definition of "main categories of risk" - Insurance, Credit, Operational, Market, Liquidity, Business, Contagion (if in a group) and Reputational. They also encourage meetings between external auditors/NEDS and heads of control functions without management present

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