About AILO

The Association of International Life Offices (AILO) is a unique organisation in the insurance industry, representing a diverse group of companies in product, market and organisational terms and having criteria for membership that are borderless. The Association was established in 1987 and its origins were rooted in the provision of financial services to international expatriates, a group whose needs, by definition, often lie outside the constraints imposed by indigenously based social security structures and currency restrictions. This demanding and geographically widespread market has posed, over the years, every imaginable challenge to our Member companies, thus enabling them to gain invaluable experience in a wide range of product structures, methods of distribution, regulatory regimes, languages and cultures.

Subsequent Business Expansion

As anti-competitive barriers in many countries have gradually been dismantled, and the mobility of labour has grown exponentially through the globalisation of markets, the original ambitions of AILO's Members have correspondingly expanded and the attractions of their products and services have influenced many domestic markets. As a result, the Membership's business is now conducted in Europe, the Middle East, the Far East, Latin America, Africa and Australasia. Its customer base encompasses international and European expatriates, as well as the international business community and financial services consumers in a number of important European and other indigenous markets. Although the profiles of our Members' insured policyholders vary considerably, they do tend to be bound together by such common characteristics as independence of spirit, self-responsibility and a similar socio-economic profile.

Products, Services and their Distribution

Consequently, the design and scope of products available from AILO Member companies reflect the wide range of needs of such clients who, for example, can demand the provision of insurance protection, systematic savings, capital investment, pensions provision and investment diversity, either individually or through a combination of services. As a result, the Membership supplies policy structures comprising conventional insurances, universal life vehicles, unit-linked products, capitalisation plans and group life/pension schemes, besides frequently offering access to 'stand alone' mutual funds, asset management and trust facilities. The investments underlying these contracts must also cater for the complex needs of Members' policyholders and, therefore, they run the gamut from government bonds to derivative funds. In between is a vast selection of investment vehicles, all designed to manage the individual risk profile of each policyholder and to modify that profile to constantly changing circumstances. The methods of distribution used to access this disparate population are equally diverse and naturally tend to be tailored to the economics of the size of the particular market being addressed, as well as its servicing needs. The Association's Membership thus utilises a wide range of channels, the most popular being independent intermediaries of all forms, followed by tied agencies and direct sales forces, with some direct marketing. Each method is either employed as appropriate to each market's circumstances, or in conformity with the insurer's own distribution culture.

Our Protection Responsibilities

Providing for the financial well-being of individuals and families carries with it an enormous responsibility and the high standards established through the operating practices of our Member companies are reflected in the Association itself. Whilst by no means wishing to seek a policing role in our diverse markets, AILO is naturally conscious of the need for a high level of policyholder protection, in all of its forms, as well as being aware of the potential danger of geographically distant operations being open to abuse for illegal purposes. The Association works closely with the insurance supervisory authorities in a number of key jurisdictions, constantly monitors consumer protection legislation and has established Membership standards in important areas such as the prevention of money laundering.

AILO Membership

Membership of AILO is not a commercially inhibiting factor. Members remain competitive, entrepreneurial and aggressively focused on their objectives. It does, however, provide a high degree of reassurance to policyholders, distributors and regulators alike, as insurers carrying AILO Membership conform to a well-defined code of standards and practices which has been formulated through their many years of combined experience.

Since its establishment, the Association of International Life Offices has experienced the historic reality of the European single market, the accelerating process of worldwide deregulation and the economic fall-out of the banking crisis and recession of 2008/2009. Fundamental and ongoing change is the order of the day. I sincerely believe that no association of insurers is better qualified to influence the practical implications of this change, better poised to seize its international commercial opportunities, or better able to serve the resultant needs of its financial services consumers.

Rachel Panagiodis
Chairman