Solvency II gets green light in EU parliament
A NEW regulatory scheme for insurers has moved one step closer after the European parliament yesterday voted through the Omnibus II directive that will implement the rules.
The long-awaited Solvency II scheme, which will set capital requirements for insurers across the EU, will be formally introduced in January 2016. The directive follows on from Solvency I, which was put in place in the 1970s.
Rick Lester, lead Solvency II partner at Deloitte welcomed the news, adding: “Insurers have generally made good process meeting the new requirements and while there is further work on the detailed implementing rules, insurers will be relieved that the deadline for implementation has been clarified and there is an agreed basis from which to proceed.”
He noted that insurers across the EU have been coping with an onslaught of new regulations in recent months, which is thought to have cost the industry an estimated €4bn a year.
Ratings agency Fitch warned that Solvency II could affect some major insurers to the tune of hundreds of millions of pounds, but that it did not expect the changes to affect overall ratings for any EU insurer.