Brussels, 12/03/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 11 March, MEPs set in stone the agreement on the Omnibus II provisions to revise the Solvency II Directive (2009/138/EC), which lays down prudential solvency rules based on the risks encountered by the insurance sector (see EUROPE 10973).
This legislative text brings in contra-cyclical measures limiting excesses of stock exchange volatility so that life insurance companies can be in a position to offer long-term investment products. These contra-cyclical measures, which are extremely technical and adapted to the specific natures of the major national markets, and which will be applied from 2016, will allow the industry to reduce their own-fund requirements. Provisions are also included on the role of the European insurance supervisory authority (EIOPA) to harmonise national approaches to calculating capital requirements and on the equivalency of the rules in force in third countries.
The European Commission announced that it will present a delegated act this summer containing implementation provisions for the Solvency II Directive. The EIOPA is also in the process of putting together a raft of technical standards to ensure that everything is in place for the regime to be applied from 1 January 2016. (MB)