On Friday 13 January, the EU and United States announced they had concluded a bilateral agreement on insurance and reinsurance measures. The formal negotiations started nearly a year ago (see EUROPE 11299), but in reality, the EU has been discussing the matter with its American partner for more than 20 years, the European Commission said.
Under this agreement, "US and EU insurers operating in the other market will only be subject to (…) oversight by the supervisors in their home jurisdiction", the two sides explain in a joint statement. This essentially means that the American authorities will retain primacy for the oversight of their insurance companies and vice versa. The supervision of a global group by the home jurisdiction will include issues of solvency, capital, governance and reporting. However, each supervisor will retain the right to ask for information on the activities at global level of insurance companies if these activities could have an impact on financial stability on its territory, the joint agreement goes on to specify. The agreement also provides for guidelines to be followed in the exchanges of information.
The agreement reached on Friday is a "win-win solution. It shows that both EU and US regulators can reach mutually beneficial outcomes through enhanced international cooperation", said the Vice-President of the European Commission with responsibility for Financial Affairs, Latvia's Valdis Dombrovskis.
The agreement was to be presented to the American Congress on Friday. This will be followed by a control period of 90 days, following which it will be approved tacitly. The American authorities will then be in a position to sign the agreement.
In the EU, the first stage will be the Commission's adoption of a proposal to the Council allowing the EU to sign the agreement. Once it has secured the Council's green light, the Commission hopes to be able to sign the agreement very quickly. Then, it will have to present the Council with a proposal authorising it to conclude the agreement. The European Parliament will also have a say. (Original version in French by Élodie Lamer)