European Insurance Forum 2009

WELCOME

I don’t think it is overly melodramatic to say that the events of the past year have been unprecedented. The financial services industry, both in domestic and international markets, has been rocked by a series of extraordinary phenomena which have led us to question the very foundations of the financial system.

The insurance and reinsurance sectors specifically have seen astonishing events, with the failure of AIG proving that even behemoths can be shaken to pieces.

EIF2009 tackles these events which continue to unfold under the conference title of “Survival of the Fittest”. Serendipitously, 2009 is the 150^th anniversary of the publication of Charles Darwin’s “Origin of Species” and the bicentenary of his birth, and it will be interesting to explore whether the natural selection tenets identified by Darwin are being replicated now in the financial markets.

The conference will look at the background to the financial turmoil of recent times, and address how it has impacted the insurance community, including a session specifically looking at the implications for corporate risk managers. We will be asking whether this will be the catalyst for a new re/insurance industry going forward, and which as a result will fall by the wayside. At the same time, we will be asking whether Solvency II – described by some as Basel II for the insurance market – remains viable following the perceived failure of Basel II in providing a sufficiently robust regulatory framework for the banking sector in Europe.

We are extremely fortunate to have some of the world’s leading experts join us in Dublin in March. John Charman and Michael O'Halleran are just a couple of the speakers who will be sharing their experience and opinions with the conference delegates. As the industry metamorphoses into its next form, the conference will be examining the next stage in the evolution of re/insurance.

Fáilte go EIF2009

Sarah Goddard

CEO

Dublin International Insurance and Management Association.