News

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has today ruled that Article 5(2) of the Gender Directive 2004/113/EC breaches European Union gender discrimination laws.  Article 5(2) currently permits individual member states to differentiate between men and women when pricing insurance where statistical evidence shows gender is a determining risk factor.  The ECJ has ruled that this derogation is invalid from 21st December 2012.  

The Society of Actuaries in Ireland has responded to a “Consultation on Impact Metrics for the Risk Based Supervision of Financial Firms by the Central Bank and on Impact Based Levies”.

The Society has responded to the EIOPA (formerly CEIOPS) consultation paper CP83, “Draft Report on Variable Annuities”.

We welcomed the Draft Report and expressed support for a substantial majority of the recommendations made in it.

The Society has responded to the Central Bank of Ireland consultation paper on “Review of the Consumer Protection Code”.

Read the consultation paper 

Read the Society’s response 

The Committee of European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Supervisors (CEIOPS) has announced its completion of the first phase of the fifth Solvency II Quantitative Impact Study (QIS5).

IAA News Release:

The International Actuarial Association is pleased to announce the completion of the paper Note on the Use of Internal Models for Risk and Capital Management Purposes by the Solvency Subcommittee of the Insurance Regulation Committee.

An expert working group on medical negligence litigation, chaired by High Court Judge Mr Justice John Quirke and including Mr James Kehoe, Fellow, Society of Actuaries in Ireland, has reported that the current system of awarding lump sum payments for damages for future care needs in medical negligence, and all other cases where catastrophic injuries are awarded damages, is inadequate and inappropriate.

The Central Bank of Ireland has issued the second edition of their Solvency II Newsletter, ” Solvency II Matters - Issue 2.  There are a number of important updates in this issue, including updates on the process for submitting QIS5 results, an overview of the Internal Model pre-application process and guidance on Article 4 of the Directive.  Any feedback on the newsletter or suggestions for future topics sho

With the Society’s assistance, the Central Bank of Ireland held a number of QIS 5 workshops in September, to aid companies in understanding the requirements of QIS 5 and completing the associated spreadsheets.  The workshops were aimed at all professionals involved in completing QIS 5.  They tried to address issues that firms had initially encountered and identified with the technical specification and spreadsheets.

CEIOPS publishes the main spreadsheet to be used by solo undertakings and groups to complete their QIS5 submission due for end-October 2010 (solo) and mid-November 2010 (groups).

The Financial Regulator has issued the first edition of their Solvency II Newsletters, which they plan to issue on a quarterly basis.  The newsletter is intended to keep insurance and reinsurance undertakings informed and up-to-date on Solvency II policy developments, implementation activities and events.

CEIOPS have to-day (11 August 2010) issued an errata list for the QIS5 technical specifications, and an updated Q & A document.