FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Regulators are looking at how they would deal with a failing insurer by applying lessons from banks during the financial crisis, the European Union's insurance watchdog said on Tuesday.
Global regulators are putting in place rules to make sure they could handle the failure of a big bank without disrupting markets as seen when Lehman Brothers went bust in 2008.
Gabriel Bernardino, chairman of the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) said insurance regulators were now looking at what rules were needed to dealing with a failing insurer.
"We need to look at the specific business models of insurers," Bernardino told a news conference.
Applying globally agreed principles on handling failing banks won't be a "copy and paste exercise" for the insurance sector, he said.