ARTICLE
30 October 2015

Solvency II Update - October 2015

M
Matheson

Contributor

Established in 1825 in Dublin, Ireland and with offices in Cork, London, New York, Palo Alto and San Francisco, more than 700 people work across Matheson’s six offices, including 96 partners and tax principals and over 470 legal and tax professionals. Matheson services the legal needs of internationally focused companies and financial institutions doing business in and from Ireland. Our clients include over half of the world’s 50 largest banks, 6 of the world’s 10 largest asset managers, 7 of the top 10 global technology brands and we have advised the majority of the Fortune 100.
An opinion on approaches by group supervisors to third country capital requirements has been published by EIOPA.
Ireland Insurance

Update on Swiss and Bermudian Solvency II equivalence

On 24 September 2015 the Commission Delegated Decision ((EU)/2015/1062) was published confirming equivalence of the solvency and prudential regime for (re)insurers in Switzerland from 1 January 2016.

For a link to the report, please click here.

EIOPA publish opinion on 3rd country group solvency calculation

An opinion on approaches by group supervisors to third country capital requirements has been published by EIOPA. This opinion concerns the requirements to be used for calculating group solvency for insurance groups operating in a Solvency II equivalent third country.

For a link to the speech, please click here.

EIOPA Chairman speaks about dos and don'ts of Solvency II

The Chairman of EIOPA has expressed his views on the "do's and don'ts of Solvency II" at a recent conference in Slovenia. The Chairman stated that while there are risks associated with Solvency II, there are also opportunities. The Chairman expressed his opinion that Solvency II is a game changer in situations where supervisors need to move toward risk-based supervision.

For a link to the speech, please click here.

New Solvency II rules on infrastructure investment by insurers

The EU has made a number of proposals concerning amendments to the Solvency Rules II. The proposal follows the publication of a final report by EIOPA. The EU has proposed that;

(i) in order for an asset to constitute a qualifying infrastructure investment, a number of criteria must be satisfied, including:

  • the investment must be made directly in an "infrastructure project entity"; and
  • the cash flows that the infrastructure project entity generates for investors must be "predictable".

(ii)Investors must benefit from a contractual framework that provides a high degree of protection. In order to satisfy this requirement there must be:

  • protection against losses arising from termination by the ultimate purchaser of the infrastructure project; and
  • sufficient reserve funds or other financial arrangements to cover the contingency funding and working capital requirements of the project.

For qualifying infrastructure investments in bonds or loans. Further requirements apply.

For a link to the proposals, please click here.

Solvency II Preparatory Phase Reporting goes "Live"

The Central Bank is now open to receive formal submissions of Solvency II preparatory phase reporting via their Online Reporting System.

For a link, please click here.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.

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