The world’s top insurance CEOs believe insurers will be caught up in measures to prevent another global financial crisis, raising costs for companies and their clients.

Industry think tank The Geneva Association surveyed 80 leading CEOs on long-term issues facing insurance, and found concerns that regulation aimed at banking will also affect insurance pricing and capital management.

The survey report says insurers have repeatedly expressed concern about bank regulation methodologies being applied to the insurance industry with “insurance is not banking” being a constant refrain, the survey noted.

Geneva Association Chairman Nikolaus von Bomhard, who is also CEO of Munich Re, says there is a risk that in an effort to deliver within the deadline set by the G20 finance ministers and central bank governors, “inappropriate and unfit regulation will be imposed on our sector”.

“Core insurance activities are not a source of systemic risk to the financial and economic system and no core insurance activity has ever triggered a systemic financial crisis,” he said.

Dr von Bomhard says the insurance sector acts as a stabiliser in the world’s economies through its long-term investment and risk horizons. 

The association says more than 95% of respondents were “concerned or very concerned” at the lack of transparency in the regulatory processes.

They said new regulations will impact pricing, with one respondent saying “the imposition of bank capital and solvency standards on insurance which do not reflect the real risks of insurance operations and impose unnecessary capital restrictions on insurers” was of particular concern.

“This would have a detrimental knock-on effect on all parts of the business.”

The CEOs also said governments could do more to manage climate risk and 95% of them believe governments should make more use of the risk management expertise of the insurance industry.