Criteria for assessing third country equivalence

The criteria to be taken into account in order to assess whether the solvency regime of a third country that applies to insurance and reinsurance undertakings with their head office in that third country is equivalent to that laid down in Title I, Chapter VI of Directive 2009/138/EC shall be the following:

(a) whether the assessment of the financial position of domestic insurance and reinsurance undertakings relies on sound economic principles and whether solvency requirements are based on an economic valuation of all assets and liabilities;

(b) whether the solvency regime of that third country requires domestic insurance or reinsurance undertakings to hold adequate financial resources including all of the following:

(i) a requirement that those undertakings establish technical provisions with respect to all of their insurance and reinsurance obligations towards policy holders and beneficiaries of insurance and reinsurance contracts,

(ii) a requirement that assets held to cover technical provisions are invested in the best interests of all policy holders and beneficiaries taking into account any disclosed policy objective,

(iii) a requirement that those undertakings only invest in assets and instruments whose risks the undertaking concerned can properly identify, measure, monitor, manage, control and report,

(iv) a requirement that those undertakings meet capital requirements set at a level equivalent to that achieved by Article 101(3) of Directive 2009/138/EC which ensures that in the event of significant losses policy holders and beneficiaries are adequately protected and continue to receive payments as they become due,

(v) a requirement that those undertakings maintain a minimum level of capital, non-compliance with which triggers immediate and ultimate supervisory intervention,

(vi) a requirement that those undertakings meet the capital requirements referred to in points (iv) and (v) with own funds that are of a sufficient quality and which are able to absorb significant losses, and that own-fund items considered by the supervisory authorities to be of a high quality shall absorb losses both in a going concern and in case of a winding up;

(c) whether the capital requirements of the solvency regime of that third country are risk-based with the objective of capturing quantifiable risks and, where a significant risk is not quantifiable and cannot be captured in the capital requirements, whether that risk is addressed through another supervisory mechanism;

(d) whether the solvency regime of that third country ensures timely intervention by supervisory authorities of the third country in the event that the capital requirement referred to in point (b)(iv) is not complied with;

(e) whether the solvency regime of the third country provides that all persons who are working or who have worked for the supervisory authorities of that third country, as well as auditors and experts acting on behalf of those authorities, are bound by obligations of professional secrecy and whether such obligations of professional secrecy extend to information received from all supervisory authorities;

(f) whether the solvency regime of the third country provides that, without prejudice to cases covered by criminal law, any confidential information received by all persons who are working or who have worked for the supervisory authorities of that third country is not divulged to any person or authority whatsoever, except in summary or aggregate form, such that individual insurance and reinsurance undertakings cannot be identified;

(g) whether the solvency regime of the third country provides that, where an insurance or reinsurance undertaking has been declared bankrupt or is being compulsorily wound up, confidential information which does not concern third parties involved in attempts to rescue that undertaking may be divulged in civil or commercial proceedings;

(h) whether third country supervisory authorities which receive confidential information from supervisory authorities only use that information in the course of their duties and for any of the following purposes:

(i) to check that the conditions governing the taking-up of business, system of governance and public disclosure and solvency assessment have been met,

(ii) to impose sanctions,

(iii) in administrative appeals against decisions of the supervisory authorities,

(iv) in court proceedings relating to the solvency regime in that third country;

(i) whether third country supervisory authorities are permitted to exchange information received from supervisory authorities, in the discharge of their supervisory functions or the detection and investigation of breaches of company law, with other authorities, bodies or persons where that authority, body or person is subject to the obligation of professional secrecy in the relevant third country and whether that information is only disclosed once the express agreement of the supervisory authority from which it originates has been obtained and, where appropriate, has been obtained solely for the purposes for which the authority gave its agreement.