This ambitious strategy has helped position Cambodia’s financial sector for sustainable development, regional competitiveness, and greater financial inclusion, laying a resilient foundation to weather global economic shifts.
— Liberia —
modernization. clarity. supervision.
Transforming Insurance Supervision in Liberia: Legal Reform and InsurTech for Risk-Based Regulation (2022–2024)
"Good regulation starts with strong law, but true oversight is only possible when data, design, and discipline work together."
— Shaan Stevens, Legal Expert, GG International
Challenge
Liberia’s insurance regulatory system, shaped by the 2013 Insurance Act and administered by the Central Bank of Liberia (CBL), faced a dual challenge: a legal framework that appeared strong on paper but lacked operational clarity, and a supervisory capacity that remained underdeveloped due to persistent institutional, technical, and financial limitations.
Despite borrowing from internationally accepted models, the draft amendments to the Insurance Act introduced during 2023–2024 risked entrenching inefficiencies. The proposed law blurred the distinction between regulatory functions and government policy roles, introducing unclear mandates, conflicting responsibilities, and budgetary ambiguities.
At the same time, Liberia had no automated systems to support risk-based supervision (RBS)—a modern supervisory approach required by global standards. With a fragmented reporting culture and overstretched supervisory staff, the CBL could not proactively monitor systemic risk, emerging threats, or market compliance.
Strategy
The U.S. Treasury OTA commissioned GG International to lead a comprehensive assistance program from 2022–2024. Under the technical leadership of Russell Leith (Insurance Finance & Risk) and Shaan Stevens (Legal Advisor), the project took a two-track approach:
A. Legal and Institutional Reform
A detailed review of Liberia’s Insurance Act 2013 and its proposed amendments identified significant structural issues, particularly regarding the governance, powers, and independence of the supervisory authority.
The team advised against merging policy and regulatory powers and instead proposed a staged transition to an independent Insurance Supervisory Commission, leveraging Section 13.8 of the existing law.
Recommendations were made to shift fine structures and operational processes to regulations, not the Act, to allow for flexibility and efficiency.
A needs-based legislative process was advocated, aligned with best practice (OECD, IAIS), stakeholder engagement, and clarity on the role of ministries versus regulators.
B. InsurTech Risk-Based Supervision System
Simultaneously, GG International proposed a technology-enabled InsurTech RBS model, tailored for Liberia’s regulatory environment. The system, modeled on the globally deployed Vizor platform, would:
- Automatically generate Key Risk Indicators (KRIs);
- Conduct comparative benchmarking;
- Trigger inspection protocols;
- Enable resource-efficient, offsite supervision;
- Provide sectoral risk dashboards and trends over time.
Minimum requirements and implementation phasing were developed, with training plans and institutional readiness assessments embedded. Given the lack of existing systems, the timing was ideal—there was no legacy infrastructure to “unlearn.”
A funding request was presented, supported by both legal and operational rationale: Liberia had sound insurance legislation but no digital infrastructure to enforce it effectively.
Transformation
The coordinated legal and technological reform effort has created a blueprint for modern supervision in fragile states::
- The legal review directly influenced revisions to the draft Insurance Act, ensuring separation of regulatory and policy functions, enhanced enforcement provisions, and scalability through regulation—not static legislation.
- Liberia is now positioned to transition to an independent Insurance Supervisory Commission, based on law, strategic planning, and resource mapping.
- The InsurTech RBS proposal received positive reception, with implementation readiness documentation finalized. If funded, Liberia will join over 30 jurisdictions using risk-based InsurTech supervision tools.
- Stakeholders—including the CBL, insurers, and regional counterparts—now share a common roadmap for supervisory modernization grounded in data, legal clarity, and institutional design.