A regulatory "revolution" sweeping the Asia-Pacific insurance sector will place a great burden on the region's many underdeveloped underwriters, a new report from Standard & Poor's claims.

Insurers in mature markets such as Australia and Singapore are prepared for tighter regulatory supervision, but many of their counterparts in developing countries - and the regulators that oversee them - are not.

Tighter regulations will also prompt another round of consolidation as well-resourced competitors snap up smaller operators.

The report highlights a trend towards greater risk management awareness, additional disclosure and increased corporate governance requirements as evidence that regulators are serious about weeding out rogue operators.

Credit analyst Connie Wong says most of the region's insurers and underwriters are far from ready to handle sophisticated and risk-based measurement regimes due to the lack of skills and resources, and various legacy issues.

"Although there are strong and well-established insurers in the region, the majority of insurers in Asia-Pacific are small in scale.

"We expect top insurers in the region to leverage off their large resources to further improve their risk management control. Consequently, the difference between top performers and weak players will be greater than before, and consolidation in the Asia-Pacific industry will occur eventually."