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“AI and sustainability - cure or curse?”
While AI can help resolve data issues in sustainable investing, it can create problems such as information breaches and inherent bias in data.
Global | Publication | July 2012
The European Commission has published a draft of the directive which will replace the Insurance Mediation Directive (2002/92/EC) or IMD. The revised directive on mediation or "IMD2" as it is known, makes a number of significant changes to the regulation of sales of insurance products in the EU.
The Directive will have to be approved by the Council and Parliament before adoption into law during 2013, likely to be in force in 2015. IMD2 will follow a Lamfalussy structure and will therefore contain certain Level 2 measures including detailed professional requirements for intermediaries, criteria for determining conflicts of interest and standards of customer information in investment products.
Shortly after the implementation of the IMD in 2005 the European Commission conducted a review to gauge the effectiveness of the new regime. The review found that, although the IMD had introduced a minimum level of consumer protection for sales of insurance products, the minimum harmonisation nature of the Directive had resulted in a patchwork of national regulations - with some governments “gold plating” implementation measures while others introduced the bare minimum required to be compliant. As a result, there are numerous gaps and inconsistencies in the Single Market for insurance. There remains very little cross-border selling of insurance policies across the EU, undermining the Single Market. The Commission review found there to be insufficient consumer knowledge of the risks, costs and features of insurance products. In addition, the Commission found that a lack of transparency around remuneration meant that there were too many commission-driven conflicts of interest in the market.
The draft IMD2 tackles the issues of scope of regulation (who should be regulated and who not), conflict of interests and remuneration transparency (what are customers paying for and who are they paying), quality of advice and information for customers in addition to recognition of professional standards.
Headline changes made to regulation in IMD2 include the following:
As we have now become familiar with Lamfalussy structure directives, much of the detail will be contained in secondary level measures. It is only once this level is published that firms will be able to assess the true impact of the requirements. In particular, delegated acts will set out detailed professional and organisational requirements for the standards of knowledge and ability of those selling insurance, the information that must be provided to customers, and define the steps that intermediaries should take to identify, prevent, manage and disclose conflicts of interest. Furthermore, national implementation of the revised regime will reveal where the changes may have greatest impact.
Firms should take time to consider what the changes being brought in with mean for their business. As a first step firms should:
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While AI can help resolve data issues in sustainable investing, it can create problems such as information breaches and inherent bias in data.
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In this edition of Regulation Around the World we review recent steps that financial services regulatory authorities have taken as regards investment research.
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n a long-running dispute, taking in no less than three arbitrations spanning 26 years cumulatively (involving allegations of state interference in the arbitral process), the Court has provided useful guidance on the ss.67 and 68 challenges, particularly in the context of investor-state claims.
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