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It may have already been more than a year since the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) took effect, but the discussion surrounding data protection is far from over. In fact, the International Underwriting Association (IUA) has formed a data protection group to tackle the impact of GDPR and surrounding issues.
Bringing together professionals with data responsibility across the London company market, the freshly created committee will examine the application of new legislation and how best to comply with the rules. The wide range of potential areas to dive into includes inconsistencies in the interpretation of the GDPR across Europe, as well as standards for the retention of documents.
Discussion topics also span the management of international requirements where not only the GDPR but also the data protection regime of a non-EU country applies to the processing of personal information. How to manage data access requests is another subject to address.
“There is a growing recognition among insurers that the use of big data analytics has the potential to revolutionise our industry,” noted Chris Jones, director of legal and market services at the IUA.
“Increasingly, large amounts of data are being used to assess, select, and price risks some of which were previously considered uninsurable. The ability to effectively access, manage, and use data will, in future, be a vital competitive priority, and IUA members are already devoting significant resources to this challenge.”
The new IUA group, which is now made up of around 20 insurance professionals, will work closely with the association’s existing committees that look into legal and regulatory issues and those centred on general compliance and cyber underwriting.
“New compliance requirements have been placed on firms by the introduction of new data protection regulations, and our new data protection committee will help members manage these obligations,” added Jones. “It will also liaise with authorities and seek to ensure the regulatory landscape evolves in an effective and appropriate manner.”
