On Tuesday 13 September, the European Commission adopted a formal opinion requiring the Slovak insurance supervisory authority, Národná banka Slovenska (NBS), to comply fully with the EU supervisory regime applicable to insurance and reinsurance undertakings in the EU, as laid down in the Solvency II Directive.
This opinion follows the recommendation issued by the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) concerning the violation of EU law. EIOPA has gathered evidence that a Slovak insurance company, under the supervision of the NBS as home supervisor, has been non-compliant over the past years with ‘Solvency II’ rules in relation to technical provisions, capital requirements, investments and system of governance.
According to EIOPA, NBS had not taken the necessary corrective action to remedy the company’s non-compliance. As a result, the European authority recommended that NBS take appropriate measures to ensure a structural and sustainable recovery from all infringements or, if appropriate or required, to withdraw the firm’s authorisation.
Although the Slovak authority announced an integrated supervisory strategy and implemented several supervisory measures, including the initiation of sanction proceedings against the insurer, the Commission notes that no decisive supervisory action has been taken, rendering NBS non-compliant with the ‘Solvency II’ Directive.
For these reasons, the Commission considers that the Slovak supervisory authority should make additional efforts. “We fully support EIOPA in its commitment to ensure compliance with EU law and we hope that the Slovak supervisory authority will implement the recommended actions in a swift and timely manner”, said Financial Services Commissioner Mairead McGuinness in a statement.
NBS has 10 days to inform the Commission and EIOPA of the measures it intends to take to comply with its obligations, and 4 months to adopt new measures. (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)