The Solvency II preparatory phase data submissions in many European countries were due on June 3, 2015. BearingPoint clients from across Europe went live with the first reports in many jurisdictions – among them, the Central Bank of Ireland, PRA in the UK, BaFin in Germany, IVASS in Italy, ACPR/Bank de France, FMA in Austria and Finansinspektionen in Sweden. The deadline nears for the full implementation of Solvency II.

However, many insurers still do not yet have a Pillar 3 reporting solution in place. According to recent surveys from various consulting firms, a significant percentage of firms remain unprepared for operational readiness. In addition, new reporting requests and challenges are presently looming.

In the final phase, insurers will have to cope with a significantly increased number of QRTs compared to the preparatory phase. Moreover, additional domestic reporting requirements are being discussed in different countries.

Insurers using EIOPA’s T4U tool for the creation and validation of reports in XBRL format must now consider alternative solutions. The regulator for the insurance sector has announced they will eliminate the tool in the second half of 2016 due to budget restrictions. EIOPA is considering making the tool available as an open source solution but with upcoming regulatory changes upon the horizon, it remains questionable whether the functional scope of the solution will be sufficient. What is more, the lack of proper support for T4U is an operational risk.

According to ECB regulation ECB/2014/50, published at the end of 2014, insurers will have to report additional statistical data, including quarterly figures for the first quarter 2016. Some of the requested data cannot be retrieved from available Solvency II reports. For these so-called “ECB add-ons”, the ECB and EIOPA have developed extended reporting templates, also known as “unofficial reporting templates”, which are based on EIOPA’s data point model. How the reporting process will be ordered between EIOPA and the ECB remains yet to be decreed.

Although the preparatory phase went smoothly, there is still a lot of work to do with new requirements already in the starting blocks and many insurers still needing to implement suitable reporting solutions. Furthermore, many local regulators are starting to introduce nationally specific templates (NST) for reporting requirements.

Based on long-term experience and in-depth knowledge in regulatory reporting requirements, BearingPoint provides expert consultancy and a multi-jurisdictional Pillar 3 off-the-shelf software package with ABACUS/Solvency II, used by small, mid-size and large international insurance companies, comprising over 200 reporting entities in 21 European countries. ABACUS/Solvency II covers the complete reporting workflow, from data importing, validation, sign-off processing and transfers of quantitative and qualitative reports in an XBRL format. The platform facilitates multi-jurisdictional reporting, including ECB add-ons and NST support and achieved strong positioning in the latest, “Gartner Market Guide for Solvency II solutions”, which surveys and analyses the market’s Solvency II solution providers.

Would you like more information?

If you want to get more information about this insight please get in touch with our experts who would be pleased to hear from you.