EIOPA updates representative portfolios to calculate volatility adjustments to the Solvency II RFR term structures

Page Content

Today, the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) published updated representative portfolios that will be used for calculation of the volatility adjustments (VA) to the relevant risk-free interest rate term structures for Solvency II.

EIOPA will start using these data for the calculation of the VA end of March 2018, which will be published at the beginning of April 2018.

EIOPA publishes the updated representative portfolios now, i.e. three months in advance in order to allow (re)insurers sufficient time to prepare for this change.

The updated portfolios are based on data reported by European (re)insurance companies to their national supervisory authorities as part of their annual supervisory reporting for 2017. Based on more up-to-date and granular data, the new portfolios enable more accurate reflection of the impact of market volatility under the Solvency II framework.

EIOPA is revising the representative portfolios on a yearly basis with the next update being scheduled for the second half of 2018.

The representative portfolios are available on EIOPA's website under "Background Material".

Background

The volatility adjustments are derived from spreads of representative portfolios of assets. The representative portfolios are derived in accordance with Article 49 of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/35.

The volatility adjustment is a measure to ensure the appropriate treatment of insurance products with long-term guarantees under Solvency II. (Re)insurers are allowed to adjust the RFR to mitigate the effect of short-term volatility of bond spreads on their solvency position. In that way, the volatility adjustment prevents pro-cyclical investment behaviour of (re)insurers.