December 21, 2004
Insurance Industry: The Next "SOX" Recipient?
As more and more tremors rock the insurance industry around the world, sources are saying that the insurance industry will be the next recipient of a Sarbanes-Oxley like legislation. The issues in insurance around acturial and financial stability are huge. The industry is complex and to outsiders, not well understood.
An excerpt on an article of similar problems in the UK:
"Seeking to bring best practice to mutual governance
By Andrea Felsted Published: December 21 2004
Paul Myners yesterday revealed a swathe of sweeping reforms to the way mutual life offices are run in the wake of the Equitable Life debacle.
Mr Myners described the recommendations in his review of mutual life offices' corporate governance as a way of lifting mutual corporate governance to the standard of that in public limited companies, and in some areas taking it even further forward.
The government asked Mr Myners to carry out the review following Lord Penrose's report into the crisis at Equitable Life. Lord Penrose was critical of the failure of Equitable board members to ask about or understand the actuarial and financial risks the troubled mutual was running.
Equitable was forced to put itself up for sale four years ago after the House of Lords ruled against it over its refusal to honour its guaranteed annuity rates, which promised a minimum pension even when interest rates fell.
At the heart of Mr Myners' recommendations is that mutual life assurers adhere to a version of the revised combined code on corporate governance, which is a special version of the code for mutuals on best practice on how companies should be governed."
For complete article, click here.
To help your company comply with excellent governance and internal controls, see www.issuescentral.com for more information on Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance Playbook(tm) or call (416) 977-1496 today.
An excerpt on an article of similar problems in the UK:
"Seeking to bring best practice to mutual governance
By Andrea Felsted Published: December 21 2004
Paul Myners yesterday revealed a swathe of sweeping reforms to the way mutual life offices are run in the wake of the Equitable Life debacle.
Mr Myners described the recommendations in his review of mutual life offices' corporate governance as a way of lifting mutual corporate governance to the standard of that in public limited companies, and in some areas taking it even further forward.
The government asked Mr Myners to carry out the review following Lord Penrose's report into the crisis at Equitable Life. Lord Penrose was critical of the failure of Equitable board members to ask about or understand the actuarial and financial risks the troubled mutual was running.
Equitable was forced to put itself up for sale four years ago after the House of Lords ruled against it over its refusal to honour its guaranteed annuity rates, which promised a minimum pension even when interest rates fell.
At the heart of Mr Myners' recommendations is that mutual life assurers adhere to a version of the revised combined code on corporate governance, which is a special version of the code for mutuals on best practice on how companies should be governed."
For complete article, click here.
To help your company comply with excellent governance and internal controls, see www.issuescentral.com for more information on Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance Playbook(tm) or call (416) 977-1496 today.
