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Member, Beacon International Group, Ltd.
The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority, Europe's insurance regulator, published a report in late June on the treatment of long-term guarantees under Solvency II.
The French and German insurance associations — the Fédération Française des Sociétés Assurances and the Gesamtverband der Deutschen Versicherungswirtschaft e.V. — are among those that have expressed concern about EIOPA's conclusions.
The FFSA and GDV said that while they welcome certain elements of the report and agree with EIOPA's assessment that adjustments to proposed Solvency II rules are necessary, they do not believe that EIOPA's proposals will address some of the challenges that life insurers will face under the rules, notably the volatility of solvency ratios.
Insurance Europe, which represents insurers and reinsurers in Europe, welcomed EIOPA's decision to carry out an impact assessment to test some of the measures related to long-term guarantees ahead of Solvency II's implementation.
“The industry remains committed to supporting efforts to correct the outstanding problems with Solvency II and to finalizing the regime as soon as possible,” Insurance Europe said in a statement.
While Solvency II likely will be delayed beyond its slated start date of Jan. 1, 2014, companies should continue to prepare for certain elements of the European risk-based capital rules when they do come into force, experts say.