EIOPA strengthens supervision of cross-border insurance groups

The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) published today its 2016 Year-end report on Functioning of Colleges of Supervisors and priorities for 2017. The work of the Colleges of Supervisors is crucial for the conduct of high-quality group supervision and for the effective and efficient cooperation amongst national supervisory authorities. The report shows that the European insurance market is dominated by more than 90 cross-border insurance groups with a head office in the European Economic Area (EEA).

During the first year of Solvency II, EIOPA observed increased interactions and discussions in the meeting of the Colleges of Supervisors as well as quality and efficiency gains in the information exchange benefitting from the harmonised regulatory reporting requirements. At the same time, EIOPA points to the need for particular attention to the consistency and quality of Own Risk and Solvency Assessment (ORSA) reports and internal models, to the practices for enhanced risk assessment, to sub-group supervision as well as to optimise the use of EIOPA's Central Repository.

EIOPA will reinforce the discussions linked with group supervision, in particular the evaluation of the impact of a group's failure from a European perspective taking into account scale, market position, dimensions of risk exposure, complexity of organisation and operations as well as the quality of supervision.

In 2017, the Colleges of Supervisors are requested to further develop effectiveness and efficiency in the supervision of cross-border groups, in the exchange of information as well as in the assessment of joint risks. To ensure the robustness and reliability of the Solvency II balance sheet, the differences in the application of valuation principles, the use of options and their impact on the group's and major solo undertakings' financial and solvency position will be addressed.

The year-end report 2016 on Functioning of Colleges of Supervisors and priorities for 2017 can be viewed here.