Insurance Europe has published its response to a consultation conducted by the European Commission on its review of EU trade policy.

European (re)insurers play a key economic role through both the protection they provide to individuals and businesses, and the investments they make as the largest institutional investors in Europe, with over 10 trillion euro of assets under management. They are also the world’s most international (re)insurance sector and a global success story, with around a third of all internationally active insurance groups (IAIGs) headquartered in the EU.

To be able to maintain this key role, Europe’s (re)insurers need the right rules at both EU and international level to be able to maintain their global competitiveness, and the right trade conditions to enable them to access international markets.

Given these important considerations, the Commission should:

• Consider global competitiveness as a clear objective in EU policymaking.
• Ensure that global standards do not create competitive disadvantages for European companies.
• Engage in dialogues with third-country jurisdictions to ensure that market access and trade barriers to European market players are removed and the strength of the EU regulatory system is appropriately recognised.
• Promote international coordination towards sustainability.

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