Two Argentinian ICMIF members, the Association of Interior Insurers of the Argentine Republic (ADIRA) and the Argentine Association of Insurance Cooperatives and Mutual Societies (AACMS) have this week helped organise and taken part in the Global Insurance Conference – Buenos Aires 2019.

The event was convened in conjunction with a number of other Argentinian insurance associations: the Association of Argentine Insurance Companies (AACS), the Association of Interior Insurers of the Argentine Republic (ADIRA), the Civil Association of Life and Retirement Insurers of the Argentine Republic (AVIRA), the Union of Work Risk Insurers (UART) and the Association of Argentine Insurers (ADEAA) under the auspices of the Geneva Association and with the support of the Argentinian National Insurance Superintendency (SSN).

The event took place on Tuesday 28 May at the top of the Kirchner Cultural Centre in Buenos Aires, with the participation of Dante Sica, the Argentinian Minister for Production and Labour of the Nation; Santiago Bausili, Secretary of Finance; and the National Insurance Superintendent, Juan Pazo. Juan Pazo was one of the key forces behind the G20 Insurance Forum which took place in September 2018. Argentina held the presidency of the G20 in 2018 and, thanks to the growing recognition of insurance as a social protection mechanism to promote financial and economic stability and growth, an Insurance Forum took place last year for the first time ever at a G20 Summit.

Personally convinced of the positive role of insurance, Juan Pazo, Superintendent of Insurance for Argentina, last year worked hard to convince his government and G20 leaders that a specific event dedicated to insurance should be organised. ICMIF and the Geneva Association worked closely together to produce an agenda for the event and ICMIF members Sancor Seguros, La Segunda and ADIRA all supported the project and helped to host the Forum. These three insurers were all participants and co-organisers of this week’s Global Insurance Conference in Buenos Aires in conjunction with other Argentinian insurers.

This week’s Conference saw the participation of renowned global speakers and of key representatives from the Argentinian insurance, technological and financial sectors. Throughout the day topics such as the study of human behaviour in the construction of an insurance culture; the increasing globalisation of the world; finance and insurance in the treatment of risks; the impact of changes in the world order in the global insurance industry; and the ethics in the handling of information in a context of technological evolution were all addressed.

It is important to note that this Global Insurance Conference was held as a prelude to the 46th Annual General Assembly of the Geneva Association, considered by many as a leading “Think Tank” for insurance, which is being held from 29 May 29 to 1 June in the city of Buenos Aires.

The Global Insurance Conference agenda

Alejandro Simón, CEO of ICMIF member Sancor Seguros and Board Member of the Geneva Association, gave the opening addressed and welcomed delegates to the event. This was an opportunity for Simón to highlight the importance for Argentina of the coming Assembly of the Geneva Association and considered it a message from the international community in support of the process of growing the insurance sector in Argentina. Simón was one of the Co-Chairmen of the G20 Insurance Forum in 2018.

Next, the National Superintendent of Insurance, Juan Pazo, spoke, saying that the SSN is working on the role of insurance as an institutional investor, based on the conviction that it is the best way to contribute to the country’s sustainable development and to build a culture of transparency.

The Minister of Production and Labor of the Nation, Dante Sica, highlighted the work that the government has been doing in the search for macroeconomic stability, generating conditions of stability that allow strengthening the currency and favouring the construction of a capital market, within which the insurance industry has a very significant contribution to make.

The rest of the day was divided into four sessions:

• The protection gap and how to reduce it
• The increasing globalisation of the financial world and insurance in the treatment of risks
• Geopolitics: the impact of changes in the world order on the global insurance industry
• Technology: ethics in the management of information. Opportunities and challenges of Big Data

The Secretary of Finance of the Argentinian Republic, Santiago Bausili, gave a closing address to the Conference at the end of an ambitious agenda which focused on to the present and future of the insurance industry in Argentina and around the world.