Climate Change And Geopolitics Give IFCs Tough Choices

A 2021 world risk map[i] classified all Latin American countries as “lacking security”. Moreover, this reality has only become worse with time. It is a fact that the lack of security may reach all corners in the globe, but is it just coincidence that not a single Latin American country is considered favourably?

And because they are closely related, I would like to mention another concept: legal uncertainty. A country with legal certainty abides by the Constitution and all applicable legal norms, leaving the enforcement of such norms to the competent authority, and preserving the independence of the State’s various powers, without changes to the rules by the government in office.  This is obviously not the case with Latin American countries.

The reason for such legal uncertainty is the enormous political instability currently affecting Latin American countries. Amidst constant back-and-forth Argentina deals with over 160 different taxes, high unemployment and endless “dollar types”, a…

Bermuda is also a significant domicile for commercial insurers and reinsurers. The attractiveness of Bermuda to the insurance industry has resulted in a legal and regulatory regime that is bifurcated to facilitate the co-existence of these two broad categories of insurer, both of which are regulated by the Bermuda insurance regulator: the Bermuda Monetary Authority (the BMA).

The development of Bermuda's insurance regime is a result of prevailing market conditions and considerations. Recent enhancements to Bermuda's insurance regime have focused on commercial insurers (particularly in the life sector) and this trend looks to continue through and beyond 2023. 

In Singapore, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) released its Sustainability Report 2021/2022, in which MAS revealed that it had worked with the Singapore Exchange (SGX) to (1) require all SGX-listed entities to provide climate reporting on a ‘comply or explain’ basis for financial years starting on or after 1 January 2022; and (2) implement mandatory climate reporting, with issuers in industries identified by the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures to be progressively subject to mandatory climate reporting from the financial year 2023. MAS estimates that by 2025, mandatory climate reporting will cover approximately 78 per cent of SGX’s listed market capitalisation.[i]