Eleventh Working Meeting in Douglas, Isle of Man

The Offshore Group of Insurance Supervisors (“OGIS” or “the Group”) held its 11th Annual Working Meeting from May 4-6, 2004 at the Hilton Hotel, Douglas, Isle of Man.

Nineteen delegates, representing fourteen jurisdictions, were in attendance. The Group was also pleased that the Meeting was again supported by a representative from UNCTAD, who gave an update on the work of that organisation.

A Guidance Paper on “The regulatory issues for variable life and variable annuity products” was approved at the meeting.

The Group is preparing a new three-year training plan for adoption at the Annual General Meeting. The next training seminar aimed at regulatory staff in the offshore sector will be held in Labuan in August 2004.

Steve Butterworth, a founding member of OGIS, was invited by the Group to discuss the new insurance core principles, which have recently been expanded by the International Association of Insurance Supervisors. To date, fifteen members of OGIS have undergone an IMF Assessment, based on the core principles.

OGIS was especially pleased to note in the update of the Assessment Program released by the IMF on March 12, 2004that “compliance levels for Offshore Financial Centres are, on average, more favourable than those for other jurisdictions assessed by the Fund in its financial sector work. The higher financial standard compliance rates of OFCs reflect in part higher income levels of the OFCs and their concerns to protect their reputation.”

The Annual General Meeting of OGIS will be held in October 2004 in Amman, Jordan.

Note to Editors

The Offshore Group of Insurance Supervisors (“OGIS”) was formed just ahead of the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (“IAIS”) in 1993 and quickly moved to establish and develop a number of regulatory standards and Guidelines. Subsequently all of the Members and most of the Observers have become members of the IAIS, which has in turn developed Standards and Guidelines of its own.

OGIS applies specific conditions for membership. Observers have committed themselves to meeting these conditions within a reasonable time frame.

Current Members of OGIS are Bahamas, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Gibraltar, Guernsey, Isle of Man, Jersey, Labuan, Macau, Mauritius, Netherlands Antilles, Samoa and the Turks & Caicos Islands. Current Observers to OGIS are Anguilla, Aruba, Bahrain, Belize and Vanuatu.

May 12, 2004 - Isle of Man

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