Changing regulation, along with low interest rates, dominates the agendas of leading insurers' CEOs globally, according to Standard & Poor's. In a special report, the rating agency says that regulatory changes are creating great uncertainty, and may prove either positive or negative for insurers. S&P said in its report that the uncertainty of insurers' future regulation, both prudential and market conduct, was affecting many insurers' cost of capital and strategic choices, and this was weighing on ratings. "While banks are in the eye of the regulatory storm and remain the focus of policyholders' attention in the aftermath of global financial crisis, the insurance industry isn't far behind. Unfortunately for insurers, policymakers' understanding of the industry's dynamics is often lacking, in our view, and their reflex response is often to impose similar measures on both industries. Sometimes this is appropriate, sometimes not," the report said. S&P said that, historically,
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