Lapse risk sub-module

1. The capital requirement for lapse risk referred to in Article 105(3)(f) of Directive 2009/138/EC shall be equal to the largest of the following capital requirements:

(a) the capital requirement for the risk of a permanent increase in lapse rates;

(b) the capital requirement for the risk of a permanent decrease in lapse rates;

(c) the capital requirement for mass lapse risk.

2. The capital requirement for the risk of a permanent increase in lapse rates shall be equal to the loss in basic own funds of insurance and reinsurance undertakings that would result from an instantaneous permanent increase of 50 % in the option exercise rates of the relevant options set out in paragraphs 4 and 5. Nevertheless, the increased option exercise rates shall not exceed 100 % and the increase in option exercise rates shall only apply to those relevant options for which the exercise of the option would result in an increase of technical provisions without the risk margin.

3. The capital requirement for the risk of a permanent decrease in lapse rates shall be equal to the loss in basic own funds of insurance and reinsurance undertakings that would result from an instantaneous permanent decrease of 50 % in the option exercise rates of the relevant options set out in paragraph 4 and 5. Nevertheless, the decrease in option exercise rates shall not exceed 20 percentage points and the decrease in option exercise rates shall only apply to those relevant options for which the exercise of the option would result in a decrease of technical provisions without the risk margin.

4. The relevant options for the purposes of paragraphs 2 and 3 shall be the following:

(a) all legal or contractual policyholder rights to fully or partly terminate, surrender, decrease, restrict or suspend insurance cover or permit the insurance policy to lapse;

(b) all legal or contractual policyholder rights to fully or partially establish, renew, increase, extend or resume the insurance or reinsurance cover.

For the purposes of point (b), the change in the option exercise rate referred to in paragraphs 2 and 3 shall be applied to the rate reflecting that the relevant option is not exercised.

5. In relation to reinsurance contracts the relevant options for the purposes of paragraph 2 and 3 shall be the following:

(a) the rights referred to in paragraph 4 of the policy holders of the reinsurance contracts;

(b) the rights referred to in paragraph 4 of the policy holders of the insurance contracts underlying the reinsurance contracts;

(c) where the reinsurance contracts covers insurance or reinsurance contracts that will be written in the future, the right of the potential policy holders not to conclude those insurance or reinsurance contracts.

6. The capital requirement for mass lapse risk shall be equal to the loss in basic own funds of insurance and reinsurance undertakings that would result from a combination of the following instantaneous events:

(a) the discontinuance of 70 % of the insurance policies falling within the scope of operations referred to with Article 2(3)(b)(iii) and (iv) of Directive 2009/138/EC, for which discontinuance would result in an increase of technical provisions without the risk margin and where one of the following conditions are met:

(i) the policyholder is not a natural person and discontinuance of the policy is not subject to approval by the beneficiaries of the pension fund;

(ii) the policyholder is a natural person acting for the benefit of the beneficiaries of the policy, except where there is a family relationship between that natural person and the beneficiaries, or where the policy is effected for private estate planning or inheritance purposes and the number of beneficiaries under the policy does not exceed 20;

(b) the discontinuance of 40 % of the insurance policies other than those falling within point (a) for which discontinuance would result in an increase of technical provisions without the risk margin;

(c) where reinsurance contracts cover insurance or reinsurance contracts that will be written in the future, the decrease of 40 % of the number of those future insurance or reinsurance contracts used in the calculation of technical provisions.

The events referred to in the first subparagraph shall apply uniformly to all insurance and reinsurance contracts concerned. In relation to reinsurance contracts, the event referred to in point (a) shall apply to the underlying insurance contracts.

For the purposes of determining the loss in basic own funds of the insurance or reinsurance undertaking under the events referred to in points (a) and (b) the undertaking shall base the calculation on the type of discontinuance which most negatively affects the basic own funds of the undertaking on a per policy basis.

7. Where the largest of the capital requirements referred to in points (a), (b) and (c) of paragraph 1 of this Article and the largest of the corresponding capital requirements calculated in accordance with Article 206(2) of this Regulation are not based on the same scenario, the capital requirement for lapse risk referred to in Article 105(3)(f) of Directive 2009/138/EC shall be the capital requirement referred to in points (a), (b) and (c) of paragraph 1 of this Article for which the underlying scenario results in the largest corresponding capital requirement calculated in accordance with Article 206(2) of this Regulations.