New solvency regulation: What CEOs of insurance companies think

Abstract

Current reforms of solvency regulation in Europe include the Swiss Solvency Test, already in force in Switzerland since 2011, and the planned move by the European Union from the Solvency I to the Solvency II framework over the coming years. These changes bring with them more stringent requirements in many areas and thus have a broad impact on the European insurance industry. The scope of this paper is to analyse, on the basis of an industry survey, the perceived magnitude of the impact, the effects and the uncertainty accompanying these reforms. The study highlights significant differences in perception by country, size of business and dominant business line. Furthermore, selected perceived effects of new solvency regulation are shown to have a significant impact on the (planned) sites and scope of business model adaptation. © 2013 The International Association for the Study of Insurance Economics.