News

At a public hearing on Solvency II in Brussels this month, Michel Barnier, Member of the European Commission responsible for the Internal Market and Services, urged insurers to give their opinions on the calibration of Solvency II by taking part in Quantitative Impact Study (QIS5).  He also proposed deferral of the implementation of the Directive:  “As very few insurers end their financial year on 31 October, I wish to propose deferring the date of entry into force of the Directive from 31 October 2012 to 31 December 2012 to bring it into line with the date on which the accounts o

The CEA, the European insurance and reinsurance federation, has called for more work to be done on the Solvency II implementing measures.  It has also called for changes to the draft specifications for the fifth Quantitative Impact Study (QIS5).  The CEA’s director general, Michaela Koller, said: “Although we welcome the modifications that the European Commission has already made to the implementing measures and the QIS5 specifications, the proposed measures are still too conservative in many areas and much work remains to be done before they truly

Solvency II:  European Commission consults on QIS5

The European Commission has published for consultation draft technical specifications for the fifth Solvency II Quantitative Impact Study (QIS5), which will be run from August to November this year.

If you have any comments on the draft technical specifications, please let the Society’s Solvency II Committee know (info@actuaries.ie).

CEIOPS  has published a paper titled “Solvency II Calibration Paper”.  The paper provides background information to the technical analysis carried out by CEIOPS for the calibration of key parameters of the Solvency Capital Requirement (SCR) standard formula and the calculation of technical provisions for the purpose of Quantitative Impact Study 5 (QIS5).

CEIOPS (the Committee of European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Supervisors) has published guidance on the pre-application process for internal models.  The pre-application process facilitates dialogue between undertakings and supervisory authorities prior to the submission of a formal application for approval of an internal model.

The Minister for Social and Family Affairs has approved certain changes to the actuarial assumptions set out in Appendix 1 of ASP Pen-4, Funding Proposals under the Pensions Act.  These changes will come into effect at 1st April 2010.

The main changes are as follows:

Actuaries broadly welcome the National Pensions Framework.  See announcement from Department of Social and Family Affairs here.

See below for the Press Release from SAI.

Click here to listen to Aisling Kennedy's interview on Morning Ireland - 4th March 2010

CEIOPS has submitted to the European Commission the Task Force Report on the Liquidity Premium containing technical considerations regarding the application of a liquidity premium for the valuation of insurance liabilities, principles for extrapolation and considerations on the choice of the reference risk-free rat

The Society welcomes an announcement from Minister for Social and Family Affairs, Mary Hanafin, that the National Pensions Framework will be published next Wednesday, 3rd March, at 2.30pm.

Mr Bill Prasifka, currently Chairman of the Competition Authority, has been appointed as Financial Services Ombudsman.  He replaces Mr Joe Meade, who retired last month.

It is expected that Mr Prasifka will take up his appointment by the end of March 2010 or soon thereafter. Mr PJ Fitzpatrick will remain as Interim Ombudsman until then.

The Pensions Board has published its Review of 2009  – a fact sheet and commentary giving an overview of the pensions sector and the Board’s activities for 2009. 

The Chief Executive of the Pensions Board, Brendan Kennedy, gave a presentation recently to the IAPF Trustees Forum on “What the Pensions Board expects of Trustees” .  He pointed out that, while trustees are not expected to be pension professionals, they must put in the effort needed to acquire a basic knowledge of the I