EIOPA publishes opinion on group solvency calculation in the context of equivalence

Frankfurt, 25 September 2015 – The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) published today an Opinion on Group Solvency Calculation in the Context of Equivalence.

The Opinion is of relevance for insurance groups that operate outside the European Economic Area (EEA) in third countries whose solvency regimes are considered equivalent to Solvency II.

The Opinion aims to provide consistency on the group supervisors approach towards the third countries capital requirement to be used for the calculation of the solvency position of such groups and to ensure that the supervisory assessment of the availability of third-country undertakings’ eligible own funds is carried out in a convergent manner.

Gabriel Bernardino, Chairman of EIOPA, said: “Supervisory convergence is an essential element in the implementation of Solvency II and is a high priority on EIOPA’s agenda. With this Opinion, EIOPA intends to achieve a level playing field for the EU insurance groups by securing consistent practices by National Competent Authorities (NCAs)”.

In its Opinion, EIOPA recommends NCAs to apply the highest level of capital requirement in the third country for calculating the group solvency position. Own funds should be deemed unavailable in case they are below the threshold triggering intervention by the third country supervisory authority. Furthermore, groups should form an economic view of the risks inherent in the business conducted in the third country. This economic view and intra-group transactions should be monitored by the group supervisor, for instance as part of the Own Risk and Solvency Assessment (ORSA) of insurance groups.

EIOPA is going to monitor the development of the issues addressed in the Opinion.