Big insurers may escape regulators' "systemic" list -watchdog

FRANKFURT, June 19 (Reuters) - Global insurers deemed by regulators as likely to destabilise the financial system should they fail could find a way of removing themselves from the list, such as by simplifying themselves, a German watchdog said.

International regulators in July listed nine such insurers, including AIG and Allianz SE (Other OTC: ALIZF - news) , in a prelude to requiring them to hold more capital from 2019 to cover risks to the financial system.

Inclusion on the list hinges on the size of the insurer, whether it is involved in risky activities such as derivatives and its global reach.

The insurers criticised the approach, arguing that the sector did not cause the 2008 financial crisis and should therefore not be tarred with the same regulatory brush as banks and have to shoulder increased costs of holding more capital as a safety buffer.

Felix Hufeld, the top insurance supervisor at German financial watchdog Bafin, told Reuters without giving details that the companies would have options to remove their names on the list once the rules are finalised later this year.

"It should be possible to get down off the list of systemically relevant insurers," Felix Hufeld, the top insurance supervisor at German financial watchdog Bafin told Reuters.

"The additional capital requirements are not only there to increase safety but should also create an incentive to separate from systemically relevant activities," he added.

The new regime is aimed at avoiding a repeat of insurer AIG, which was bailed out by American taxpayers after its derviatives trading arm got into trouble.

Global insurance supervisors are still in the process of developing appropriate regulation for systemically important insurers, he said.

The new rules by the regulators were called for by world leaders in the Group of 20 top economies (G20) that approved a similar regime for 28 of the world's top banks, also by 2019.

Insurance supervisors are working on defining global standards for basic capital requirements, which they hope to have ready for a G20 meeting in Brisbane in November.

Hufeld said insurance supervisors could not simply copy the approach used by banking regulators, because insurance was a fundamentally different business.

"Systemic risks for insurers derive from particular activities that could affect an unknown number of insurers in the same way," he said.

"A single company turning into a problem of its own accord will probably remain the exception; more likely is a single 'Typhoid Mary' that infects a large number of companies, thereby creating the 'systemic' aspect of the risk," Hufeld said.

Besides Allianz and AIG, the other companies initially identified as systemically relevant were Generali (Frankfurt: 850312 - news) , Aviva plc (Other OTC: AIVAF - news) , Axa (Paris: FR0000120628 - news) , MetLife Inc (NYSE: MET - news) , Ping An , Prudential Financial Inc (NYSE: PJH - news) and Prudential plc (HKSE: 2378.HK - news) .

A decision on including any large reinsurers such Munich Re and Swiss Re (Other OTC: SSREF - news) will be taken at a later date. (Reporting by Jonathan Gould and Alexander Huebner; Editing by James Macharia)