Posted on 21st May 2013 by Solvency 2 News in Europe |UK
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Report by Tarisai Mandizha 
The Mordenising Insurance Regulation—Solvency II seminar comes at a time when the sector has been on a growth trajectory following a slump at the height of the country’s unprecedented economic meltdown which ended in 2009.
Solvency II is a framework developed to guide the regulation of insurance in the European Union and its primary concern is the determination of the amount of capital that insurance companies have to hold to reduce the risk of insolvency. Last year Ipec raised minimum capital levels for shortterm insurance players to
$1,5 million from $300 000.
Continue Reading “Ipec Convenes Capitalisation Seminar” at News Day
Posted on 15th May 2013 by Solvency 2 News in Europe |UK
Capital Requirements, Capital Rules, compliance, delay, Europe, Pension, Pension Schemes, Regulation, risk, risk management, rules, Solvency, Solvency II, Standard & Poor, UK, United Kingdom
The ratings agency issued a report considering the future of the Solvency II plans and based on comments made by S&P staff during a conference in Dublin last month. It noted that the existing regulatory system, Solvency I, was
‘virtually devoid’ of incentives for good risk management. It also lacks capital requirements for asset risk, it said.
This means Solvency II, which will place new capital requirements on insurers depending on the results of a risk-based assessment of their assets and liabilities, is ‘needed now’.
Continue Reading “Solvency II is Still Needed, says Standard & Poor’s” at The Actuary News
Posted on 15th May 2013 by Solvency 2 News in Europe |UK
Capital Requirements, Capital Rules, delay, EIOPA, EU, Europe, European Commission, European Parliament, Financial Services Authority, FSA, investments, negative, Pension, positive, Regulation, risk, risk management, rules, Solvency, Solvency II, UK, United Kingdom
However, while all too aware of this force for change, a near all-consuming focus on the retail distribution review has left little, if any, time to consider other perhaps more ‘indirect’ regulatory impacts.
It makes sense then that the intermediary sector in general has little knowledge of the world of Solvency II – regulatory change directly affecting insurers which, like RDR for intermediaries, has been building for a number of years.
Continue Reading “Don’t Panic – Embrace Positives of Solvency II” at FT Adviser News
Posted on 10th May 2013 by Solvency 2 News in Europe |UK
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In what are likely to have been his last public comments before stepping down from the role within a matter of months, financial regulator Matthew Elderfield effectively launched a broadside against deputy AIB chairman
Michael Somers.
Strong regulation and an adequately resourced watchdog are essential if the “terrible costs” of the banking failure to taxpayers and society are not to be repeated, he warned.
Mr Somers, the former head of the National Treasury Management Agency, who’s a government-appointed director to AIB, claimed last week that global banking giants such as Goldman Sachs are leaving the International Financial Services Centre in Dublin due to over-regulation.
Continue Reading “Elderfield Clashes with AIB’s Somers on Cost of Regulation” at Independent News
Posted on 7th May 2013 by Solvency 2 News in Europe |UK
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Head of the PRA plans to use early warning indicators in supervisory work, notwithstanding the risk of EU challenge
The UK’s prudential regulator is sensible to maintain the flexibility to force companies to adjust their internal models and increase capital buffers in response to developing risks, even at the risk of a legal challenge in European courts, according to regulatory experts.
The comments come as it emerged that the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) is planning to use a system of ‘early warning indicators’ in its supervisory work on insurers’ internal models, which may go beyond the Solvency II framework.
Continue Reading “UK Regulator Right to Retain Flexibility to Force Changes on Internal Models” at Risk News
Posted on 3rd May 2013 by Solvency 2 News in Europe |UK
Capital Requirements, Capital Rules, compliance, EIOPA, guidelines, Insurance, legal framework, Pension, Pension Schemes, Regulation, risk, risk management, rules, Solvency, Solvency II
Dealing with missing legal framework
Much of the success of the interim measures will depend on the level of compliance with the Guidelines. One key obstacle is that in some member states the legal framework to apply the rules is not yet in place.
EIOPA says it is aware of these limitations but is optimistic that a sufficient level of compliance will be achieved despite this. Patrick Hoedjes, Director of Operations at EIOPA told Solvency II Wire in an interview, “The expectation is that we will also have some explanations, not only compliance. A further expectation is that the majority of members will comply, maybe not in the first stage, but certainly in the later stage of the preparatory period.”
Continue Reading “Solvency II News: Details of Compliance with Interim Measures Emerge” at Solvency II Wire
Posted on 1st May 2013 by Solvency 2 News in Europe |UK
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The Solvency II rules for insurers are not necessary and there is no need to centralise regulation at EU level to ensure the free movement of financial services around Europe, writes professor
In 2008 the United Kingdom’s Treasury department, writing about the potential ‘benefits’ of Solvency II, said: “Solvency II is based on a three-pillar approach used in the Basel II banking accord.” This was at the height of the banking crisis and came without any apparent recognition of the failure of regulation in that crisis. This is hardly the best recommendation for Solvency II.
More recently in a leaked letter Andrew Bailey, head of the Prudential Regulatory Authority, criticised Solvency II, the complex set of rules being developed by the European Union to regulate all insurers in the bloc in a uniform way. He was right to do so. Everything about Solvency II is misconceived. It is estimated that it will cost EU insurers £3bn.
Continue Reading “Scrap ‘misconceived’ Solvency II Regulations” at Public Service Europe News
Posted on 30th April 2013 by Solvency 2 News in Europe |UK
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Andrew Bailey, chief executive of Britain’s Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), said EU rules known as Solvency II, due to come into effect in 2016 at the earliest, would not be comprehensive enough.
“To mitigate this risk, we plan to use ‘early warning indicators’ in our supervisory work,” Bailey said in a letter to Andrew Tyrie, chairman of parliament’s Treasury Committee.
The PRA wants to avoid a repeat of the Equitable Life scandal, which saw the world’s oldest life assurer nearly collapse after making promises to policyholders that it could not keep.
Continue Reading “UK to Risk EU Court Challenge Over Tougher Insurance Rules” at Reuters News
Posted on 29th April 2013 by Solvency 2 News in Europe |UK
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European rules aimed at making insurers safer may cost the industry as much as 200 million pounds ($310 million) a year in the U.K., said Andrew Bailey, the country’s top banking and insurance supervisor.
The delayed rules, known as Solvency II, may see insurance premiums increase by 0.1 percent to cover the cost of compliance, Bailey, chief executive officer of the Prudential Regulation Authority, said in a letter to Andrew Tyrie, chairman of the U.K.’s Treasury Select Committee, dated April 19 and released by Tyrie today.
Continue Reading “ Solvency II Rules Seen as Costing U.K. Insurers $310 Million” at Bloomberg News
Posted on 25th April 2013 by Solvency 2 News in Bermuda |Europe |UK
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A listed Lloyd’s of London insurer that has been based in the City for more than 20 years is planning to relocate to
Bermuda – citing persistent uncertainty over new European regulations as one of the main reasons for its move.
While a number of European insurers, including Prudential, have threatened to redomicile because of the incoming Solvency II rules on capital requirements, Randall & Quilter (R&Q) revealed on Thursday that it has drawn up firm plans to go overseas.
Consultants said the Aim-quoted insurer’s proposals showed that industry warnings about Solvency II were not mere sabre-rattling, and that larger groups in the sector were looking closely at their options.
Continue Reading “Lloyd’s Insurer Relocating to Bermuda” at Financial Times News
