EFRP welcomes rejection of Solvency II for IORPs

17 February 2011

EFRP chairman, Patrick Burke, said he hoped the European Commission would carefully consider all evidence it was presented with, praising MEPs for drawing clear policy lines.

The European Union is unlikely to apply Solvency II regulations to institutions for occupational retirement provision (IORPs), the European Federation for Retirement Provision (EFRP) has said.

Patrick Burke said: "The EFRP is particularly satisfied that the European Parliament has recognised the specificities of IORPs, bearing in mind that the risks in the insurance sector are different and that those differences should be reflected in the prudential regime."

The organisation's secretary general, Chris Verhaegen, added that she now doubted Solvency II would be applied to all pension schemes in the Union. "My reading of the Parliament's work is that there is no and will be no majority in Europe to apply Solvency II type of quantitative requirements to IORPs. This becomes most relevant in view of the Call for Advice to EIOPA to review the IORP Directive. 

Additional suggestions echo those made by Verhaegen in a recent speech, calling for a common set of definitions for pension terminology, as well as a system that allows benefits to be traced across various member states.

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