EIOPA publishes the first paper of a series on systemic risk and macroprudential policy in the insurance sector

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Today, the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) published the first in a series of papers with the aim of contributing to the debate on systemic risk and macroprudential policy. Until now, the debate has mainly focused on the banking sector due to its prominent role in the recent financial crisis. Through this series of papers, EIOPA will ensure that any further extension of the debate to the insurance sector fully reflects the industry's specific nature.

This first paper outlines the lessons learnt from the financial crisis and the banking sector affecting the insurance sector, as well as the current status of debate within the sector. The paper identifies and analyses the sources of systemic risk in insurance outlining three potential sources: entity-based, activity-based and behaviour-based.

The paper also includes a proposal for a macroprudential framework for insurance and defines specific operational objectives based on the previously-identified sources of systemic risk.