General Insurance Article - Comment on Omnibus II Directive from Grant Thornton

 Simon Sheaf, Head of Actuarial and Risk at Grant Thornton UK LLP comments on the Omnibus II Directive that was adopted by the European Parliament today:

 "We welcome the passing of Omnibus II, which is a major step on the path to Solvency II. The introduction of the new regime has been beset by numerous delays, but it now appears increasingly likely that it will come into force on 1 January 2016.

 "Inevitably, in order to reach agreement on Omnibus II, compromise was required between the varying interests of different member states. In some areas , these have resulted in deviations from the original intentions of Solvency II. Despite this, we fully support the efforts to move to a risk-based regulatory regime for European insurers. In our view, the introduction of Solvency II, although imperfect, is vastly preferable to continuing with the current situation of varying requirements across Europe, many of which are not risk-based.

 "It is now looking very likely that Solvency II will be in place in less than two years. Consequently, it is important that insurers push ahead with their preparations. In particular, this should be a wake-up call to those insurers who have been waiting for more certainty before recommencing their preparations. There are now less that 22 months to go before implementation and for many insurers there is a lot of work to do in preparation. Insurers who delay for too long are going to find it increasingly difficult and, therefore, increasingly costly to be ready by 1 January 2016"