The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) on the 26th October 2011 published three equivalence reports.
In June 2010, the European Commission asked CEIOPS, EIOPA’s preceding organisation, to provide advice on whether the supervisory regimes of Bermuda, Japan and Switzerland meet criteria of equivalence. The goal of this equivalence assessment is to ensure that the third country regulatory and supervisory regimes provide a similar level of policyholder / beneficiary protection as the one provided under the Solvency II Directive.
In addition to EIOPA’s assessment the reports include the results of the official consultation that was conducted in August and September 2011. Market participants and interested parties provided experience and information on relevant aspects of the supervisory practices and insurance regulatory regimes in the three countries respectively.
EIOPA’s Chairman, Gabriel Bernardino, highlights: “Third country equivalence assessments are an important instrument towards achieving global supervisory convergence in insurance. The equivalence assessment of other supervisory systems is an enormous undertaking. As such, this could only be completed successfully due to the commitment of the Bermudan, Japanese and Swiss authorities to participate in this exercise and thanks to their cooperation, dedication and transparency. EIOPA is committed to continue its work to ensure that the third country regulatory and supervisory regimes provide a similar level of policyholder protection as the one provided under the Solvency II Directive."
Click here to read the “Report on the equivalence Assessment of the Bermudan supervisory system (Link: https://eiopa.europa.eu/consultations/consultation-papers/2011/august-2011/consultation-paper-no-4-
eiopa-draft-report-equivalence-assessment-of-the-bermudan-supervisory-system/index.html )”.
Click here to read the “Report on the equivalence Assessment of the Japanese supervisory system (Link: https://eiopa.europa.eu/consultations/consultation-papers/2011/august-2011/consultation-paper-no-5-
eiopa-draft-report-equivalence-assessment-of-the-japanese-supervisory-system/index.html )”.
Click here to read the “Report on the equivalence Assessment of the Swiss supervisory system (Link: https://eiopa.europa.eu/consultations/consultation-papers/2011/august-2011/consultation-paper-no-3-
eiopa-draft-report-equivalence-assessment-of-the-swiss-supervisory-system/index.html )”.
Click here to read the Call for Advice from the European Commission (Link: https://eiopa.europa.eu/publications/requests-for-advice/index.html ) and related documents.
MFSA Ref: 47-2011
