General Insurance Article - Omnibus II agreement welcomed by Groupe Consultatif

 An agreement has been reached between the European Parliament, Council and Commission on the Omnibus II Directive.

 The Groupe Consultatif welcomes the certainty around Solvency II with a reliable timescale for implementation between now and 2016. The Groupe recognises the strenuous efforts of the Commission, Council and Parliament to reach a practical solution, and the major contributions from stakeholders and industry.

 Alot of work lies in the months ahead: on finalising important details at Level 2 and more detailed guidance. Also EIOPA is already running its "preparatory guidelines" which have started to influence the actions of national supervisors in 2014 and 2015 before the full implementation date.

 Solvency II has a major impact on actuaries inside insurers, working in consultancies and also employed by supervisors. The Groupe Consultatif looks forward to continuing involvement with assistance in technical provisions, risk management and capital quantification.

 The Groupe Consultatif has a particular interest, for the future Solvency II world, in the development of roles of risk management, the actuarial function and the interaction with existing statutory roles at national levels.

 Malcolm Campbell, chairman of the Groupe Consultatif, stated: “This is an important step in the Solvency II project, and we can now focus on how we best contribute to ensure that Solvency II can be implemented by 2016. The Groupe Consultatif has always supported the introduction and contributed to the development of a new risk-based solvency regime for the insurance industry and will continue to do so”.