ECON Committee adopted the Omnibus II Directive related to Solvency II

21 March 2012

"The insurance sector should be able to provide long-term guarantees to the benefit of consumers and remain a long-term investor in the market in times of crises", said the European Parliament Rapporteur Balz on the revision of the Directive on the EIOPA and Solvency II.

A recent impact study by the European Commission has suggested that the Solvency II provisions for long-term liabilities of insurance companies are not properly reflected. "We have now put in place a package of individual measures to better handle artificial market volatilities and to tackle pro-cyclicality. We need a European solution, but peculiarities of the national insurance markets have also got to be taken into account", said Mr Balz. EIOPA is going to draft a report on the functioning in practice of long-term guarantees within five years after the new Directive comes into force.

MEPs want to keep major aspects of the assessment of long-term liabilities in the legislation process. "The question of whether life insurance products are an appealing type of investment is also a matter of social policy. This is why we want such decisions to be taken on a political level rather than by civil servants of the Commission", said the European Parliament Rapporteur. Negotiations with Council over the final text of the Directive will start on 11 April.

Press release

 

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