Question ID: 3531
Regulation Reference: (EU) No 2015/35 - supplementing Dir 2009/138/EC - taking up & pursuit of the business of Insurance and Reinsurance (SII)
Topic: Solvency Capital Requirement (SCR)
Article: 84,176, 182,188
Status: Final
Date of submission: 20 Mar 2026
Question
Question 1 — Applicability of the look-through approach (Art. 84) Does Article 84 of the Delegated Regulation require the undertaking to decompose this structured note into its constituent economic components (bond floor + embedded option) for the purpose of calculating the SCR? Or is the instrument treated as a single bond under the spread risk sub-module (Art. 176) based on its legal form as a note?
Question 2 — Treatment of the embedded call option If look-through applies: (a) Is the embedded long call option on the Euro Stoxx 50 subject to the equity risk sub-module under Article 168–169, with the 39% stress (± symmetric adjustment) applied to the market value of the option at the reference date? (b) Given that a long call option has a maximum loss equal to the premium paid (i.e. the option's market value cannot fall below zero), does the standard formula scenario-based approach under Art. 84 implicitly cap the equity SCR on this component at 100% of the option's market value — or is the 39% factor applied mechanically regardless? (c) Is there any provision in the standard formula, or any EIOPA guidance, that explicitly addresses the treatment of the asymmetric payoff profile of long options — specifically the fact that the delta, gamma, and vega of an option mean that a 39% fall in the underlying does not translate into a 39% fall in the option's market value?
Question 3 — Spread risk on the bond floor (Art. 176) Is the bond floor component of the structured note subject to the spread risk sub-module under Art. 176(3), with the capital charge calculated as: stressi = ai + bi × (duri − threshold) based on the issuer's credit quality step and the modified duration of the bond floor? Specifically, for a 2-year instrument issued by an A-rated bank (CQS 2), this would imply: stressi = 1.4% × 2 = 2.8% of the bond floor market value Please confirm whether this is the correct interpretation and whether the modified duration of the bond floor (which may differ from the note's calendar maturity due to the zero-coupon structure) is the relevant duration input.
Question 4 — Interest rate risk (Art. 165–167) Is the bond floor component also subject to the interest rate risk sub-module, given its sensitivity to risk-free rate movements? If both spread risk and interest rate risk apply to the bond floor, how should the interaction between these two sub-modules be handled — specifically, is the IR stress applied to the full market value of the note, or only to the bond floor component?
Question 5 — Counterparty default risk vs. spread risk The capital guarantee is provided by the issuing bank, not as a standalone guarantee contract but as an intrinsic feature of the note structure. Is the credit risk on the issuing bank captured entirely within the spread risk sub-module (Art. 176) as a bond exposure — or does any portion of the issuer's credit risk fall under the counterparty default risk module (Art. 189–202)? In particular, if the embedded option is treated as a standalone derivative exposure for SCR purposes, would the issuing bank's credit risk on that derivative component be subject to Type 1 counterparty default risk (Art. 192)?
Background of the question
We are seeking clarification on the correct Solvency Capital Requirement (SCR) treatment under the Solvency II standard formula (Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/35) for a capital-guaranteed structured note with the following characteristics: Instrument type: Structured note issued by a rated financial institution (bank) Underlying: Euro Stoxx 50 index Tenor: 2 years Payoff: 100% capital protection at maturity + participation in Euro Stoxx 50 upside (call option component) Form: Single instrument (note), not a fund or CIU The economic decomposition of the instrument is: a zero-coupon bond floor (funding the capital guarantee) plus an embedded long call option on the Euro Stoxx 50.
EIOPA answer
Since the instrument described in the question exhibits both debt and equity instrument characteristics, both characteristics should be taken into account when determining which standard formula risk modules and sub-modules apply. That assessment should be based on the economic substance of the instrument. Where, as in this case, the instrument can be considered as a composite of discrete components, the relevant stresses should be applied separately to each of those components in accordance with Guideline 3 on the treatment of market and counterparty risk exposures in the standard formula.
In particular, the structured note may be considered as comprising a bond component providing the capital protection at maturity and an embedded equity option component linked to the Euro Stoxx 50 index. The bond component should be treated under the spread risk sub-module and the interest rate risk sub-module, while the equity-linked component should be treated under the equity risk sub-module, the interest rate risk sub-module and the counterparty default risk module as a type 1 exposure.
The assessment of the equity option in the equity risk sub-module includes identifying the underlying equities of the index in order to determine the appropriate equity risk treatment under the standard formula. The underlying equities would be subject to the relevant stresses, resulting in a change of market value of the equity option.
In addition, the undertaking should assess whether the bond component gives rise to market risk concentration in respect of the issuing bank, or its group, in accordance with the single-name exposure approach set out in Article 182 of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/35.
Also, if the structured note or its underlying assets are denominated in a currency other than the undertaking's local currency, currency risk should also be taken into account in accordance with Article 188 of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/35.