Brussels, 05/04/2011 (Agence Europe) - The European Insurance and Re-Insurance Federation (CEA) is extremely concerned about the Solvability II Directive process to introduce EU solvency rules in the insurance industry and has sent a letter to all three EU institutions in this connection. It says that the options favoured by EU regulators run the risk of forcing the industry to abandon long-term planning and introduce pro-cyclical measures which would, if this situation were to continue, have a negative impact on the range and cost of insurance available.
The industry says it is imperative that the conservative approach being adopted by national supervisors drawing up application measures for the EU Solvency II Directive (2009/138/EC) must change. It is calling for the value of in-force portfolios to be fully accounted for as hard core Tier-1 capital, as should deferred tax assets.
European insurers feel there is no time to lose and want the European Commission and the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) to come up with solutions to these problems by the summer. Application measures cannot be formally unveiled until the Solvency II Directive is adopted, initially scheduled for early next year but postponed until January 2013, which gives the industry a year to prepare itself. (M.B./transl.fl)