Regulatory consequences of the credit crisis will be minor forinsurers, executives surveyed by an international researchorganization said recently.

Of 40 industry leaders from global insurers and reinsurerspolled during the 35th General Assembly of The Geneva Associationin Bermuda in May, 87 percent said they expect only a “minortightening” of insurance regulatory frameworks.

Any regulatory changes will be the result of “spill-over” fromexpected major changes to banking regulation, these chief executiveofficers said.

Still, in a second part of the survey, the chief executiveofficers listed the risk of insurance regulators overreacting tothe credit crisis among the top three risks for the industry in thenext 12 months.

The top two concerns identified were an economic slowdownresulting from the credit crisis and continuing financial marketvolatility.

All the CEOs surveyed said they believed insurers would sufferlittle or no reputation damage as a result of the credit crisis–52percent of survey respondents foresee minor damage and the other 48percent expect no damage.

Fifty-two percent also do not expect any greater or fewersecuritizations of insurance risks (such as catastrophe bonds) as aresult of the credit crisis, while 28 percent expect acceleratedactivity. The remaining 20 percent believe the impact will be aslowdown in the pace of convergence between the insurance andcapital markets.

On other matters, 57 percent of the CEOs favor accelerating thepace of change in solvency regulation, and two-thirds said theywere satisfied with the direction of Solvency II, the modernizationof European solvency regulation set for 2012 implementation.

With respect to efforts to develop international accountingstandards, however, the same proportion–two-thirds–said they areunsatisfied or very unsatisfied with the direction of InternationalFinancial Reporting Standards.

The Geneva Association, a nonprofit organization that acts as aresearch forum for top insurance CEOs to exchange ideas andidentify key strategic issues, said the meeting in Bermuda wassponsored by XL, ACE, Partner Re and Axis. In addition, the groupsaid that other participating CEOs include leaders of global firmssuch as AIG, Lloyd's and Swiss Re, as well as leaders of regionalfirms in Brazil, Poland and Turkey.