CIMA (Conference Interafricaine des Marches d’Assurances) is an International Organization in charge of Regulating the Insurance Industry within fourteen countries in Africa. Created in 1992, the Institution appear today as a great example of a successful inclusion experience among countries.

Most of the State members are underdeveloped countries with very limited actuarial experience. The regulator inherited the laws and technical support from some western countries, leaded by France. For many years, Life Insurance companies have been forced to use an old French mortality table (PM 60-64) for pricing and reserving. In September 2012, CIMA has issued new mortality tables (CIMA H and CIMA F) with data from some Insurance Companies of the Region. This new tables that come into force in January 2013 will definitely carry out some critical challenges for the whole industry. Some critics are already registered concerning the inadequacy of theses tables in a such multi-cultural context.

Although the initiative is very worthy, it rise some important issues about the ability of the African markets to develop their own tools of Risks Assessment and Management. Moreover, the need for a strong actuarial expertise is evident in this Region. A solid partnership between the Regulator (CIMA) and independent actuaries could enable the mandatory of some products like the Whole Life Insurance for Microinsurance, similar to Car Insurance for Non-Life Insurance.

Thus, there is a huge room of opportunities for the actuarial profession in Africa, the new Eldorado. The Regulation of the Insurance must be more intrusive taking into account Models validation by the supervisor, setting Standards of practices, profit testing to prevent corporate insolvency or systemic crisis, regulating the insurance business on the Internet…