Insurers are concerned about plans to develop a risk-based global insurance capital standard, the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) says.

It comes after the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) announced the proposal last week.

“While such a standard may have attractions in theory for regulators, the insurance industry globally has been concerned about the competitive implications of a regulatory capital requirement disconnected from an insurer’s home-jurisdiction prudential regime and apparently intended to apply only to some insurers,” ICA says.

CEO Rob Whelan will attend the IAIS annual conference in Taiwan this week to seek more details on the plan.

He will also discuss the proposal at Global Federation of Insurance Associations meetings with his international counterparts and IAIS officials.

Full implementation of the global capital standard is to begin in 2019 after two years of testing and refinement, the Swiss-based IAIS says.

“We learned from the financial crisis that our global financial regulatory regime should be more robust and comprehensive in scope, and jurisdictions should share a commitment to global standards,” IAIS Technical Committee Chairman Michael McRaith said.

Next year the IAIS will develop capital requirements for global systemically important insurers.

The push for international regulation comes mainly from the IAIS and the G20’s Financial Stability Board, also based in Switzerland.