Brussels, 17/03/2015 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission hopes to propose changes to the insurance prudential rules ('Solvency II') in order to help to support flows of savings into long-term investments.
“Our aim is to amend the detailed rules of 'Solvency II' in each of these areas, in other words to adopt provisions targeting investment funds specialising in long-term investment and to give insurers more options to get involved in infrastructure projects”, the Commissioner for Financial Services, Jonathan Hill, said on Tuesday 17 March, at a conference in Frankfurt organised by the Süddeutsche Zeitung. ELTIF funds will be moved into a less risky investment category by amending the regulation implementing 'Solvency II'. The EP has just enshrined the legislation instituting them (see EUROPE 11271).
Reiterating the need to assess the overall impact of financial legislation on growth and job creation (see EUROPE 11200), the commissioner went on to announce that the report to be presented by the Commission on banking prudential rules ('CRD' legislative package) would also focus on the question of long-term financing and support to SMEs.
Nor did Hill rule out a legislative revision aiming to expand the category of asset fund managers in the fields of venture capital and social entrepreneurship, in the framework of the setting in place of the capital markets union (see EUROPE 11256). (Mathieu Bion)