Australia's financial regulators are taking the lead in a global push to put climate risk at the centre of financial supervision, Mr Jonathan Dixon, secretary general of the International Association of Insurance Supervisors, has said.

He said the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority’s head of insurance, Geoff Summerhayes, had become an “effective global leader among insurance supervisors in promoting a shift from awareness to action on climate risk”, while the Australian Securities and Investments Commission was also taking a leading role, reported The Australian Financial Review.

Mr Dixon, who was in Australia to deliver a speech to the Actuaries Institute’s Actuaries Summit earlier this week, said that climate risk is among the three “top priorities for insurance supervisors” around the world, alongside cyber risk and FinTech disruption.

He said, “It’s fair to say there’s varying degrees to which insurance supervisors around the world are viewing [climate risk] as a part of their core mandate. But there is a growing number of insurance supervisors who believe this is a clear and present financial risk like any other financial risk that needs to be properly managed.”

“Some of our members are at the forefront of that. Australia is really taking some global leadership there.”