Brussels, 05/06/2001 (Agence Europe) - Against expectations, the "Internal Market/Consumers" Council reached, last Thursday, an agreement over the Commission proposals aiming to enhance the protection of policy holders by modifying the solvency margin requirements of insurance companies. This agreement was nevertheless not formalised, for lack of the Parliament's opinion, which will debate it plenary session on 12 June (Ettl report, see other story).
Presented by the Commission last 30 October, the two draft Directives aim to modify the present regulations concerning requirements for solvency margins for life and non-life insurance companies. The solvency margin is the additional capital reserves that the companies of this kind are forced to hold to be able to tackle unforeseen events such as a higher levels of claims than foreseen or bad returns for their investments. The aim of these proposals is to enhance the requirements for solvency margins of companies so as to protect the interests of the policyholders more effectively. The proposals are priority measures from the Action plan for financial services which, in accordance with the conclusions from Lisbon European Council, must be implemented by 2005.