Brussels, 14/03/2011 (Agence Europe) - Insurance and reinsurance companies are well positioned to meet the new Solvency II capital requirements, says a study published by the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA). The Solvency II directive, which is to be implemented by 1 January 2013, laid the foundations for the next generation of supervisory rules for insurance and reinsurance companies in the EU. The rules of the Solvency II Directive need to be complemented by implementing measures, which will be adopted by the Commission this year.
To ensure that the finalisation of the implementing measures is based on sound, empirical data, the EIOPA conducted a Quantitative Impact Study (QIS5) from August to November 2010. The European Commission has welcomed the results of the study which show that: - fine tuning of the planned implementing measures are still needed in relation to the requirements for technical provisions, own funds and the design and calibration of the Solvency Capital Requirement standard formula: the Commission will also analyse whether changes are needed to address certain concerns relating to market volatility and, when finalising the implementing measures, will work closely with the member states, EIOPA and the industry to make these refinements, based on the information collected in QIS5; - the system is too complex particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises: the Commission will work on a number of measures to reduce the complexity of the calculation of the quantitative requirements and also to introduce additional simplifications to the standard calculations; - targeted transitional measures may be needed in certain specific cases to ensure that there is a smooth transition to the new regime. (L.C./transl.rt)