IPE: Six Danish life insurers and pension funds fail Solvency II test

21 March 2011

Finanstilsynet, the Danish Financial Services Authority, has released the local results of the fifth Quantitative Impact Study for Solvency II (QIS5), with the new guidelines on course for implementation from January 2013.

Six Danish life insurers and pension funds have failed the recent Impact Study for Solvency II, but the majority are prepared for the new guidelines, the country’s industry association said. Per Bremer Rasmussen, managing director of the Danish Insurance Association (Forsikring og Pension, F&P), said  it was "satisfying" that figures showed Danish insurers and pension funds were well equipped for the new regime on solvency.

However, in Denmark six life insurers and pension funds were, as of December 31, 2009, not able to meet the capital demands, according to the regulator. Some of these were entities within larger companies which could be expected to be able to provide the necessary capital, it said. Typically, companies offering high guarantees were the ones hit by Solvency II, said Ploughmand Bærtelsen. Companies that did not meet the requirements now had a range of different options to shape up before the legislation came in, the regulator said.

Rasmussen stressed that QIS5 was a test of the regulations that are in the process of being formulated, rather than a test of the companies themselves. "It is already clear that the Solvency II rules are very complex and the Danish Insurance Association will push for simplifications, without reducing consumer protection, which is the whole point of Solvency II."

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