Brussels, 24/08/2015 (Agence Europe) - The insurance industry is making good progress towards applying the future prudential rules from January 2016, but has expressed concern at the additional requirements being brought in by the national supervisors, according to a survey of its members carried out by Insurance Europe.
According to this survey, which covered companies accounting for 90% of insurance premiums in Europe, a “clear majority” of the companies have made good progress in implementing the first two pillars of the directive 'Solvency II' (2009/138) on own-funds requirements and the procedure for the supervision of own-fund management. The industry also believes that the forthcoming introduction of the new regime has already helped to improve governance and risk management for insurance companies.
On the downside, the insurance companies feel that the decision of most national supervisors to fully comply with all 700 guidelines issued by the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) has massively increased their workload. Furthermore, “work to comply with further additional requirements set by member states, which augment Solvency II, is slowing down the implementation process, with several respondents reporting that their member state is 'gold plating' the directive when transposing it into national law”, the organisation states in a press release published on Monday 24 August. (Mathieu Bion)