On 10 November 2022, the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, the AFM) published the results of an investigation it conducted on the status of compliance of financial undertakings with the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2019/2088, SFDR) and the related Taxonomy Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2020/852). The report covers its findings into … Continue Reading
On 19 May 2022, the Dutch Minister of Finance (the Minister) published for public consultation a draft legislative proposal of the Amendment Act on the recovery and resolution of insurers (Wijzigingswet herstel en afwikkeling van verzekeraars, the Amendment Act). As also indicated in the legislative letter of the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB) … Continue Reading
The European Insurance and Occupational Pension Authority (EIOPA) has published its feedback statement on its 2021 discussion paper on blockchain and smart contracts in insurance. EIOPA received a number of responses to its earlier paper and has summarised these in the statement. Stakeholders were able to identify a number of use cases for blockchain. The … Continue Reading
On 6 April 2022, the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB) published two news items about the management of outsourcing risks by insurers and pension funds. In 2020 and 2021, DNB reviewed the way in which insurers and pension funds manage outsourcing risks. DNB concludes that service providers to whom insurers and pension funds … Continue Reading
The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) has published a Supervisory Statement on the supervision of run-off undertakings. The statement is addressed to the competent authorities with responsibility for insurance supervision in the European Union. EIOPA acknowledges the potential benefit of run-off for the insurance market, enabling more efficient use of capital and orderly … Continue Reading
The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) has published a consultation on its advice to the European Commission in respect of certain aspects relating to retail investor protection. The Commission ran a public consultation in 2021 on retail investor protection and fair treatment of customers. As part of this ongoing initiative the Commission sent … Continue Reading
The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) has published its annual consumer trends report. The latest report identifies risks for consumers arising from market trends which may require supervisory action from EIOPA or from Member States. In summary the trends report has identified the following risks: The life sector has reversed growth trends. The … Continue Reading
The Financial Stability Board (FSB) has published two papers designed to assist resolution planning for insurance companies. The papers are practices papers on Resolution Funding for Insurers and Internal Interconnectedness in Resolution Planning for Insurers. Resolution Funding for Insurers. This practices paper considers different sources of resolution funding including policyholder protection schemes and standalone resolution … Continue Reading
The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) has published a report on the application of the Insurance Distribution Directive ((EU) 2016/97) throughout the European market. The executive summary of the report notes that there has been insufficient time to assess the effectiveness of the Insurance Distribution Directive (IDD) as a combination of late implementation … Continue Reading
The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) has published its annual report on the use of capital add-ons by national competent authorities under Solvency II. Capital add-ons are used by authorities to ensure that capital reflects the risk profile of an insurance undertaking or group. Add-ons are set following supervisory review by the relevant … Continue Reading
On 22 September 2021, the European Commission adopted a review of the Solvency II regime. The Solvency II regime includes the Solvency II framework directive (Directive 2009/138/EC) and delegated regulations. The review includes a legislative proposal to amend the framework directive as well as a legislative proposal for a new EU Insurance Recovery and Resolution … Continue Reading
Insurance Europe has published a response to the European Commission consultation on proposals for a regulation on the use of artificial intelligence. Insurance Europe welcomes the overall objective of creating a principles-based framework of requirements and the development of mandatory requirements for high-risk AI systems that pose a risk to health and safety or the … Continue Reading
The European Commission has published Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/1354, which lays down technical information for the calculation of technical provisions and basic own funds for reporting under the Solvency II Directive (2009/138/EC). The Implementing Regulation sets out technical information for reporting reference dates from 30 June 2021 until 20 September 2021. The Implementing Regulation was, … Continue Reading
Various amendments to the Solvency II Delegated Regulation ((EU) 2015/35) and to the Insurance Distribution Directive Delegated Regulations ((EU) 2017/2358 and (EU) 2017/2359) have been published in the Official Journal of the European Union so that sustainability requirements can be introduced into the Solvency II and the insurance distribution regimes in the European Union. The … Continue Reading
The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) has published a report called ‘Artificial intelligence governance principles: towards ethical and trustworthy artificial intelligence in the European insurance sector’. The report has been written in the context of the proliferation in the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in insurance and the use of Big Data in … Continue Reading
The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) has launched a consultation on the Interbank Offered Rates (IBOR) transitions. Across markets, IBOR is being replaced by risk-free rates. The consultation considers adjustments to EIOPA’s risk-free rate (RFR) methodology and production, in light of If the EU Benchmark Regulation (which came into force in 2018) which … Continue Reading
The European Commission has adopted a series of delegated regulations that help to drive investors towards more sustainable economic activities. The measures are part of the European Green Deal. The adopted delegated regulations are part of a suite of sustainability measures adopted at the same time including the EU Taxonomy Climate Delegated Act and the … Continue Reading
The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) has published an opinion on the use of climate change risk scenarios in insurance undertakings’ Own Risk and Solvency Assessment (ORSA). The opinion has been written to help supervisory authorities understand EIOPA’s expectations in terms of climate risk scenarios included in the ORSA. Solvency II requires that … Continue Reading
The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) has launched a consultation on value for money risk in the European unit-linked insurance market. EIOPA has previously expressed concern that while unit-linked products can offer important benefits for policyholders, costs for some products remain too high. The low interest rate environment, in addition to market shocks … Continue Reading
On 8 April 2021, the European Insurance and Occupational Pension Authority (EIOPA) published a single rulebook online containing requirements under the Insurance Distribution Directive ((EU) 2016/97). The single rulebook covers the Insurance Distribution Directive, the Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/2358) (on product governance and oversight), Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/1935 (requirements relating to insurance-based investment products) and … Continue Reading
Further to our earlier blog post, the ban on the provision of cross-border services by third country insurers in the Netherlands (the Ban) took effect on 17 March 2021. This means that from this date onwards third country insurers are prohibited from providing their services in relation to both life and non-life insurance products in … Continue Reading
The European Commission has published a summary report on its consultation on the review of the Solvency II Directive (2009/138/EC). The summary report sets out the feedback received during the consultation which was run between July and October 2020. The Commission does not include the Commission’s responses to feedback. The Commission will consider the feedback … Continue Reading
On 28 January 2021, the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) launched a consultation on what is known as ‘open insurance’, namely the access to, and sharing of, insurance-related data. EIOPA has also published a discussion paper in which it considers whether and the extent to which insurance value chains can be opened up … Continue Reading
The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) has published a sensitivity analysis of climate-related transition risks in the investment portfolios of European insurers. The report considers the current holdings by European insurers of corporate bonds and equity that relate to key climate-policy related sectors such as fossil fuel extraction (i.e. coal mining), carbon‐intensive industries, … Continue Reading
