Insurance regulators in many jurisdictions still have trouble getting the data and the legal authority they need to take a "bird's eye" look at the industry.
Officials at the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) , Basel, Switzerland, have published that conclusion in a mid-year report on the global reinsurance markets.
The IAIS officials write about the issue of "macroprudential surveillance," or efforts to look at the big picture, but they acknowledge that most regulators do not have a formal definition of macroprudential surveillance.