|
|
In its response to the consultation paper on the launch of the quantitative impact study (QIS) for the revised IORP Directive, the ECB's General Statistics Directorate – which compiles and publishes quarterly euro area statistics on assets and liabilities of insurance companies and pension funds – stressed that a project to develop ESCB statistics based on the new supervisory reporting requirements under Solvency II for insurance companies was ongoing.
The Directorate also called for separate information on defined benefit, defined contribution and hybrid pension schemes, "not only for monetary statistical purposes but also for economic analysis and financial stability purposes". It added: "Detailed information on the assets held and liabilities issued by IORPs is essential, not only in terms of outstanding amounts at the end of a period, but also in terms of transactions that occur between two reporting periods."
"Quarterly security-by-security reporting for the securities portfolio of IORPs is important in underpinning macro-economic and macro-prudential analyses", the ECB said. The ECB therefore suggested in its response that it would be required – for statistical purposes only – to derive from the holistic approach a "conventional" financial balance sheet, with the information provided by IORPs being "clearly" identifiable and with financial assets and liabilities classified and valued according to the new European System of Account framework.
Full article (IPE subscription required)