UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt confirmed on Thursday
November 17th that the government planned to reform the prudential
regulatory regime for the UK insurance and long-term savings sector, which
would include changes to the systems put in place by the EU’s Solvency II
regime nearly a decade ago.
Hannah Gurga, Association of British Insurers (ABI) Director
General, said that the ABI strongly welcomed the changes to the Solvency II
regime, “which will allow the UK insurance and long-term savings sector to play
an even greater role in supporting the levelling up agenda and the transition
to Net Zero”.
Barry O’Dwyer, ABI President and Royal London Group CEO,
said that “we all want to see an insurance sector that maintains the highest
standards of policyholder protection and also contributes significant
investment into UK assets and infrastructure that will benefit our customers,
the environment and wider society. This has always been our goal and with these
proposed reforms, we can achieve that ambition”
In particular, the ABI welcomes the following aspects of
the reform:
In May this year the UK government launched its
consultation on proposed reforms to the Solvency II regime in the UK. Since
leaving the EU the UK Government was able to adapt its version of the Solvency
II regime to suit more closely the needs of the UK insurance market.
The proposals focus on the following four changes:
