This issue of the Risk Management Newsletter looks at paradigm shifts in the early 3rd Millennium and devotes a large part to the emergence of quasi-regulatory risks.

The Geneva Association has produced this primer as an overview of the role of insurance in society with a view to the current state of international discussions on trade growth and development.

The world stands on the threshold of a stunning demographic transformation. For most of history until well into the 19th century, the elderly - defined here as adults aged 60 and over - comprised only a tiny fraction of the population, never more than 4 or 5 per cent in any country. In the developed world today, they comprise roughly 20 per cent of the population. Three decades from now in 2040, the share is on track to reach 30 per cent - and that is just the average. In Japan and the fastest-aging European countries, it will be approaching or passing 40 per cent.

The ageing of the baby -boom generations and the continuous increas e in life expectancy are two combined phenomena which lead to an increase in both the number and the proportion of elderly people. According to projections for France, one person out of three will be aged 60 years and over in 2050 , and the group of 75 years and older would increase from 4. 9 millions to 10.9 millions (i.e. +120 per cent) , and the group of the oldest -old , the 85 years and more, would grow from 1. 1 to 4.2 millions (i.e. +280 per cent) .

This fourth report in The Geneva Association series on Financial Stability and Insurance provides more detailed analysis of how insurance recovery and resolution mechanisms work.

This paper is intended to be a primer on insurance regulation, including key analyses vital to the discussion around systemic risk and regulation.

The aim of this paper is to elaborate on the characteristics and management of variable annuities and to evaluate how variable annuities should be considered in the discussion on systemic risk in the insurance industry.

The use of genetic information for life, disability, critical illness and long-term care insurance is likely to increase in relevance. This report represents an attempt to understand key aspects of genetics, as well as limitations and controversies of its utilisation in life insurance.

This document has been developed in response to a request from the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) as part of Words into Action Guideline on National Disaster Risk Assessment: Governance System, Methodologies, and Use of Result. This module provides governments with a framework for risk assessment to support development of sovereign risk financing and risk transfer programmes. It also offers a checklist for conducting the underpinning risk analysis to guide the design of such programmes.

The International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) is currently developing its global Insurance Capital Standard (ICS) as part of its Common Framework for the Supervision of Internationally Active Insurers (ComFrame). The ICS is global and targets all Internationally Active Insurance Groups (IAIGs) at the group level.