exclusive in conversation with
Dr. Hans Haumer, President
of the Liechtenstein Insurance Association

What function does the
Liechtenstein Insurance Association have,
and which responsibilities does the President assume?

The Liechtenstein insurance system in the sense of the companies registered here is a rather recent entity. The Europe-conform Insurance Supervisory Law was only adopted after Liechtenstein’s accession to the European Economic Area (EEA) in 1995. The activity of the companies registered here began in 1997, and the Liechtenstein Insurance Association was established in 1998 by the first companies, among them also CapitalLeben.

The objective of the association is to represent the interests of the Liechtenstein insurance industry, to promote the insurance location and to provide the insurance industry activity with the appropriate relative importance. The association fosters the collaboration with relevant national and international institutions, and also promotes training and extended vocational training in the insurance sector.

Today the association has 20 members, and these are practically all companies registered in Liechtenstein. My function as president of the association is to nationally as well as internationally represent the international general conditions and those conditions posed by Liechtenstein in order to comply with these conditions. The Liechtenstein Insurance Association is a member of the European Insurance Association (CEA), and this new membership is also a good opportunity to adapt to the corresponding lobby activity in Brussels, which is very important in order to arrange the insurance business in line with customer needs and market conditions.

The future and promotion of vocational training?

What appears to be especially worth mentioning on the national level is that since recently there is an institute mutually supported by the important associations of the finance industry. The so-called ICQM (Institute for Compliance and Quality Management), in co-operation with the Liechtenstein Advanced Technical College, has established a corresponding technical institute in order to promote the education of employees, quite naturally also in matters pertaining to the duty to take due care, but also in general matters of quality assurance.

The future way of thinking for the
Liechtenstein Insurance Association

For the future, I do not desire anything that I cannot shape myself; or, in other words, the future is not that which comes to pass, but the future is that which we intend to make out of it. In this sense I would like to provide a contribution to building up the Liechtenstein insurance industry as a strongly growing as well as adapted and essential component of safeguarding financial assets - the core competence of the financial location Liechtenstein.

Born in Vienna, Dr. Hans Haumer is an economics expert, former bank executive and regularly appears before the public with publications and lectures.

He has been President of the Supervisory Board of the CapitalLeben Versicherung AG [«Capital Life Insurance Ltd.»] in Vaduz (which he started up) since 1997, and he has been President of the Liechtenstein Insurance Association since the autumn of 2002.

© www.exclusiv.li