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European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority

2367

Q&A

Question ID: 2367

Regulation Reference: (EU) No 2015/35 - supplementing Dir 2009/138/EC - taking up & pursuit of the business of Insurance and Reinsurance (SII)

Topic: Technical Provisions (TPs)

Article: Guideline 68; Article 28 and 189 of (EU) No 2015/35 Delegated Regulation

Status: Final

Date of submission: 06 Dec 2021

Question

Question 1. An intermediary issues insurance policies to policyholders on behalf of an insurer. The intermediary collects the insurance premium based on the payment terms included within the policyholder policy. The intermediary then transfers the premium minus a commission to the insurer based on separate payment terms as agreed between the intermediary and insurer. The insurer would then include within its technical provisions the premium cash-flows that are due for payment after the valuation date based on the payment terms agreed with the intermediary? i.e. the payment terms included within the contract agreed between the insurer and its counterparty should be used to determine whether a cash-flow is due for calculating the insurers technical provisions. Would this apply to all insurance related cash-flows received from the intermediary i.e. the payment terms included within the contract agreed between the insurer and the intermediary should be used to determine whether a cash-flow is due? Question 2. The scenario is the same as above with the policyholder premium being collected by an intermediary before being transferred to the insurer. There is a contract between the intermediary and the insurer with the obligations contingent on the claims loss ratio for an underwriting year, which creates a cash-flow from the intermediary to the insurer. Effectively, if the underwriting year loss ratio is in excess of an agreed level, the intermediary is obligated to make a payment to the insurer to compensate the insurer for the poorer than expected claims experience it has ceded. The payment terms associated with this contract only exist between the intermediary and the insurer given it acts on an aggregated portfolio level – there is no direct link with the underlying policyholder cashflows or payment terms. Under the terms of the contract it is not due for payment until 51 months after the start of each underwriting year given a period of time is required to allow the loss ratio to mature and stabilise. Are we correct that the cash-flow is not due until 51 months and so the expected best estimate cash-flow would be included within the technical provisions until this point? Our approach is based on guideline 68 of the Technical Provision Guidelines and the following Q&A response https://www.eiopa.europa.eu/content/153_en#:~:text=According%20to%20Solvency%20II%20rules,payment%20by%20the%20valuation%20date.

EIOPA answer

For both question 1 and question 2, the cash flows described seem to fall within the description in Article 28(e) of the Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/35, as they are payments between the insurance undertaking and an intermediary that are related to insurance obligations. These cashflows should therefore be included in the technical provisions.

The contractual terms relating to the payments should be used when assessing when the cash flow is due for payment.

Note that in the cases described, the payments from the intermediary have to be taken into account both in the best estimate calculation, as indicated in Article 28 of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/35, and when calculating the counterparty default risk module, as indicated in Article 189 of that Regulation.​