Insurers fear that promoting EIOPA to a de facto insurance regulator status would infringe on the national sovereignty of Member States and lead to regulations that fail to take account of the regional differences between insurance markets.
EIOPA has called for additional supervisory and regulatory powers in response to a European Commission consultation on how the European system of financial supervision could be refined.
Insurers are concerned about EIOPA increasing the number of technical standards and guidance it issues. Guidelines, insurers argue, should not be used as instruments to circumvent the powers vested in the executive and legislative powers.
A chief financial officer (CFO) at a major European insurer says: "To give EIOPA large powers to make detailed rules for the sector would mean one set of rules would apply to insurance products that are, in fact, very different from one another. This is largest risk we have."
EIOPA chairman Gabriel Bernardino, outlined in May this year the powers he believed were necessary for the authority to enhance its role as a European Supervisory Authority (ESA). These included the power to access information on European insurers at the individual firm level; to conduct inquiries into institutions, products, and conduct; and to ban or restrict certain financial activities by firms.
In addition, Bernardino said the Commission should consider empowering EIOPA with an enhanced supervisory role for the largest and most important cross-border insurance groups.
None of these recommendations seems to have support among the European industry. In its response to the Commission's consultation, Insurance Europe says it does not believe that EIOPA should be given further responsibilities of direct supervision.
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