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Solvency II: state of play and perspectives

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Zeitschrift für die gesamte Versicherungswissenschaft

Abstract

Solvency II is a complex project which will be introduced in different stages for entry into force on 1 January 2013. The economic risk based approach followed in Solvency II will provide the insurance industry with a modern solvency regime that corresponds more closely with the way the industry manages its business. The implementing measures which are to be adopted in the course of 2011 will take account of the results of QIS 5, the last major quantitative impact study. They will be incorporated into a Commission regulation that will be adopted following the new procedure introduced by the Lisbon Treaty. The adoption in 2010 of the new EU supervisory architecture will reinforce the objective of a single EU rulebook for insurance supervision with the creation of EIOPA, a new authority that replaces CEIOPS and that will have important powers, thereby reinforcing the EU component in insurance supervision. Solvency II will have a major impact on insurance products and markets. It is therefore important that insurance and reinsurance undertakings start their preparations now.

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Notes

  1. Directive 2009/138/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2009 on the taking-up and pursuit of the business of Insurance and Reinsurance (Solvency II), OJ L 335 of 7.12.2009, p. 1–155.

  2. First Council Directive 73/239/EEC of 24 July 1973 on the coordination of laws, regulations and administrative provisions relating to the taking-up and pursuit of the business of direct insurance other than life assurance, OJ L 228, 16.8.1973, p. 3; Council Directive 78/473/EEC of 30 May 1978 on the coordination of laws, regulations and administrative provisions relating to Community co-insurance, OJ L 1978, p. 25; Council Directive 87/344/EEC of 22 June 1987 on the coordination of laws, regulations and administrative provisions relating to legal expenses insurance, OJ L 185, 4.7.1987, p. 77; Second Council Directive 88/357/EEC of 22 June 1988 on the coordination of laws, regulations and administrative provisions relating to direct insurance other than life insurance and laying down provisions to facilitate the effective exercise of freedom to provide services, OJ L 172, 4.7.1988, p. 1; Council Directive 92/49/EEC of 18 June 1992 on the coordination of laws, regulations and administrative provisions relating to direct insurance other than life assurance (third non-life insurance Directive), OJ L 228, 11.8.1992, p. 1; Directive 98/78/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 October 1998 on the supplementary supervision of insurance undertakings in an insurance group, OJ L 330, 5.12.1998, p. 1; Directive 2001/17/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 March 2001 on the reorganisation and winding-up of insurance undertakings, OJ L 110, 20.4.2001, p. 28; Directive 2002/83/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 November 2002 concerning life assurance, OJ L 345, 19.12.2002, p. 1; Directive 2005/68/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 November 2005 on reinsurance, OJ L 323, 9.12.2005, p. 1.

  3. Commission Staff Working Document accompanying the Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the taking-up and pursuit of the business of Insurance and Reinsurance (Solvency II), Brussels, 10.7.2007, SEC(2007)871. This document as well as all official documents referred to in this contribution can be consulted and downloaded from the Commission’s website: http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/insurance/solvency2.

  4. See also, Van Hulle, The Challenge of Solvency II, B.A.J. (British Actuarial Journal), 14, I, 19–39 (2008).

  5. This document can be found on the Commission’s website referred to in footnote 3.

  6. Commission Decision 2004/6/EC of 5 November 2003 establishing the Committee of European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Supervisors, OJ L 3, 7.1.2004, p. 30 repealed and replaced by Commission Decision 2009/79/EC of 23 January 2009, OJ L 25, 29.1.2009, p. 28.

  7. A copy of the letter can be found on the Commission’s website referred to in footnote 3.

  8. A notorious exception is the introduction of the duration approach (Article 304) as a Member State option.

  9. See in particular the brochure published by the European Insurance and Reinsurance Federation (CEA) under the title “Why excessive capital requirements harm consumers, insurers and the economy, March 2010, 36 p.

  10. A copy of this letter can be found on the Commission’s website referred to in footnote 3.

  11. A copy of this letter can be found on the Commission’s website referred to in footnote 3.

  12. In its letter of 17 November 2009, the Commission gave specific instructions to CEIOPS on the issues to be examined and on the composition of the Task Force to be chaired by CEIOPS.

  13. A copy of this letter can be found on the Commission’s website referred to in footnote 3.

  14. OJ L 200, 22.7.2006, p. 11.

  15. OJ L 184, 17.7.1999, p. 23. Consolidated version, as amended by Decision 2006/512/EC, published in OJ C 255, 21.10.2006, p. 4.

  16. Wandt/Sehrbrock, in: Dreher/Wandt (Hrsg.), Solvency II in der Rechtsanwendung, Frankfurter Reihe – Veröffentlichungen des Seminars für Versicherungslehre der Universität Frankfurt am Main, Verlag Versicherungswirtschaft, Karlsruhe, 2009, S. 11.

  17. See, for instance, the Report (Rapporteur Jozsef Szajer) of the Committee on Legal Affairs of the European Parliament on the power of legislative delegation, PE439.171v03-00 of 29.3.2010.

  18. OJ C 306, 17.12.2007.

  19. COM (2010) 83 final of 9.3.2010.

  20. Implementation of Article 290 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council, COM (2009) 673 final of 9.12.2009.

  21. Driving European Recovery, Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and to the Council, COM (2009) 114 final of 4.3.2009.

  22. European Financial Supervision, Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and to the Council, COM (2009) 252 final of 27.5.2009.

  23. Proposal or a regulation on Community macro-prudential oversight of the financial system and establishing a European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB), COM (2009) 499 final of 23.9.2009; Proposal for a decision entrusting the European Central Bank with specific tasks concerning the functioning of the European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB), COM (2009) 500 final of 23.9.2009; Proposal for a regulation establishing a European Banking Authority (EBA), COM (2009) 501 final of 23.9.2009; Proposal for a regulation establishing a European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA), COM (2009) 502 final of 23.9.2009; Proposal for a regulation establishing a European Securities Markets Authority (ESMA), COM (2009) 503 final of 23.9.2009.

  24. SEC (2009) 1233 of 23.9.2009.

  25. Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Directives 1998/26/EC, 2002/87/EC, 2003/6/EC, 2003/41/EC, 2003/71/EC, 2004/39/EC, 2004/109/EC, 2005/60/EC, 2006/48/EC, 2006/49/EC, and 2009/65/EC in respect of the powers of the European Banking Authority, the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority and the European Securities and Markets Authority, 26.10.2009, COM (2009) 576 final.

  26. CEIOPS, Report on the Preparedness of Insurance Supervisors to implement Solvency II, June 2010. This document is available on the website of CEIOPS: www.ceiops.eu.

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  1. Spastraat 2, 1040, Brussels, Belgium

    Karel Van Hulle

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Correspondence to Karel Van Hulle.

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The author is Head of Insurance and Pensions at the European Commission in Brussels and part-time lecturer at the Faculty of Economics at the Catholic University of Leuven (KULeuven) in Belgium. The views expressed in this contribution are entirely personal.

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Van Hulle, K. Solvency II: state of play and perspectives. ZVersWiss 100, 177–192 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12297-011-0138-2

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