FINA at the IAIS FinTech Forum 2026

FINA LLC participated as an industry stakeholder in the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) FinTech Forum and Digital Innovation Working Group meeting, held on October 20, 2026, at the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) in Frankfurt, Germany.

The IAIS is the global standard-setting body for insurance supervision, bringing together supervisory authorities from more than 200 jurisdictions. It promotes effective and globally consistent insurance supervision, contributes to financial stability, and supports the protection of policyholders.

The IAIS FinTech Forum provides a platform for exchanging supervisory knowledge and practical experience on technological developments affecting the insurance sector. Its work addresses emerging areas such as artificial intelligence (AI), Supervisory Technology (SupTech), and digital innovation, helping supervisory authorities better understand the opportunities and challenges associated with technological change.

As part of the Forum's stakeholder engagement discussions, FINA contributed to a session on Third-Party Engagement in SupTech, sharing its perspective on how supervisory authorities can collaborate effectively with technology providers while maintaining institutional ownership, accountability, security, and long-term control.

From Technology Implementation to Institutional Capability

As financial supervision becomes increasingly digital, systems supporting regulatory data collection, validation, licensing, supervisory workflows, and analytics are becoming integral to an authority's operating infrastructure.

Consequently, a SupTech project is more than a software purchase. It is an institutional transformation initiative involving technology, data, supervisory processes, governance, and people.

FINA's contribution emphasized a fundamental principle:

Technology dependency should not automatically become vendor dependency.

External providers bring specialized expertise, implementation capacity, and experience from other projects. However, supervisory authorities must remain in control of their regulatory data, supervisory methodologies, business rules, integrations, and key technology decisions.

The objective is to establish partnerships that strengthen institutional capabilities rather than create long-term dependence on external providers.

Three Pillars of Successful SupTech Partnerships

FINA presented its approach around three interconnected pillars: Objective, Governance, and Control.

1. Objective-Driven Implementation

Successful SupTech projects begin well before software development.

Supervisory authorities and technology providers should establish a shared understanding of institutional priorities, expected outcomes, project scope, architecture, dependencies, and long-term requirements.

A clear implementation roadmap should also be supported by a strong data foundation. Reliable data, consistent definitions, well-structured metadata, and traceability are essential for effective supervisory reporting, analytics, and AI-assisted solutions.

Rather than implementing every requirement simultaneously, institutions can prioritize high-value use cases, test solutions against real supervisory challenges, and expand functionality progressively based on measurable results.

Technology should support the supervisory mandate, not define it.

2. Institution-Led Governance and Accountability

SupTech implementation requires coordinated participation from supervisory, IT, data, security, procurement, and management teams.

One of the most common practical challenges is the limited availability of institutional resources. Key specialists often balance project responsibilities with their existing operational duties, making clear decision-making structures and realistic delivery priorities essential.

Responsibilities should be established from the beginning, including who owns supervisory requirements, data, technology decisions, security standards, and project approvals.

Technology providers also have an important responsibility to explain implementation options, architectural dependencies, risks, and trade-offs, enabling authorities to make informed decisions.

Collaboration may be shared, but institutional accountability must remain clear.

3. Sustainable Control and Reduced Dependency

Long-term sustainability depends on an authority's ability to understand, operate, maintain, and evolve its technology infrastructure.

FINA highlighted several important elements of institutional control:

• Data control: Ownership, accessibility, and portability of supervisory information.

• Technology control: Open APIs, interoperability, and documented system architecture.

• Operational control: Configurable rules and workflows, structured knowledge transfer, and internal technical capabilities.

• Source-code control: Appropriate arrangements for access, transparency, security review, and operational continuity.

These are not simply technical design considerations. They directly influence whether an institution can adapt to regulatory changes, integrate new technologies, replace components, and maintain essential supervisory functions over time.

Security, Transparency, and Partnership Without Lock-In

Another important aspect of FINA's contribution concerned technology security and the risks associated with third-party dependencies.

Even established and widely trusted technology providers can introduce vulnerabilities through software, infrastructure, or supply-chain dependencies.

As supervisory processes become increasingly reliant on digital platforms, trust must therefore be supported by transparency, appropriate security controls, documented architecture, and effective institutional oversight.

Source-code access, where supported by suitable arrangements, can provide an additional level of assurance by enabling independent review and supporting continuity. However, source code alone is insufficient without documentation, deployment knowledge, and an understanding of the underlying architecture.

The objective is not to eliminate the role of external technology providers, but to develop a more sustainable partnership model.

Such a partnership begins with vendor-supported implementation, progresses through joint delivery and knowledge transfer, and ultimately enables the supervisory authority to operate and evolve the platform while continuing to engage external specialists where they add value.

For example, if an authority must rely on its technology provider every time a validation rule or supervisory workflow needs to change, the platform may be technically functional but institutionally unsustainable.

A successful SupTech partnership should leave the authority more capable, adaptable, and technologically independent than it was before implementation.

Preparing for the Next Generation of Supervision

These principles are becoming increasingly important as supervisory authorities explore emerging technologies, including AI-assisted solutions and cloud infrastructure.

AI offers opportunities to support document analysis, information extraction, summarization, anomaly identification, and supervisory research. However, meaningful supervisory use of AI depends on reliable data, structured metadata, appropriate security controls, explainability, auditability, and human oversight.

Similarly, decisions concerning cloud infrastructure should be guided by the sensitivity of supervisory data, processing requirements, applicable security standards, and institutional risk considerations rather than a one-size-fits-all approach.

The principle remains consistent: AI should strengthen supervisory judgment, not replace supervisory accountability.

FINA's Commitment to Sustainable Supervisory Technology

With 20 years of experience in the technology sector, FINA works with central banks, financial regulators, and supervisory institutions to support the modernization of regulatory and supervisory processes.

FINA's participation in the IAIS FinTech Forum reflects its commitment to contributing practical industry perspectives to international discussions on supervisory innovation, institutional governance, cybersecurity, and responsible technology adoption.

For FINA, the success of a SupTech project is not defined solely by the functionality delivered at launch. It is measured by whether the supervisory authority can securely understand, operate, and continuously evolve its technology infrastructure over time.

Sustainable SupTech is ultimately about building institutional capability, strengthening technological independence, and establishing long-term partnerships based on transparency, accountability, and trust.

Learn more about FINA and its supervisory technology solutions at www.fina2.net.