EIOPA publishes its Annual Report 2016

Page Content

Today, the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) published its Annual Report 2016. To ensure sound and effective supervision of the insurance and pensions sectors, EIOPA strongly believes in a holistic and integrated approach towards European prudential and conduct supervision and this has been the guiding principle for EIOPA's activity over the past year.

In the course of 2016, EIOPA continued with the reinforcement of supervisory functions to move towards supervisory convergence across Europe. The implementation of Solvency II on 1 January 2016 was a milestone in the EIOPA's transition from regulation to supervision, underlining the Authority's commitment to establishing a common European supervisory culture with consistent supervisory practices across the European Union.

The current Annual Report provides a detailed overview of tools and projects that EIOPA used across its goals to ensure supervisory convergence, preserve financial stability and reinforce consumer protection for all policyholders and beneficiaries in the European Union. In addition to the extensive tasks associated with Solvency II, such as the secure collection and storage of data, EIOPA initiated the calculation and publication of risk-free rates on a monthly basis as well as, for the first time, publishing a report on long-term guarantee measures and measure on equity risk. EIOPA also conducted an EU-wide insurance stress test, developed its macro-prudential approach to the low interest rate environment in Solvency II, published its fifth annual report on consumer trends and provided advice to the European Commission on a number of issues, including the development of a Pan-European Personal Pension product (PEPP) and, within the context of the Joint Committee, on the Key Information Documents for Packaged Retail and Insurance-based Investment Products (PRIIPs).

The Authority will build on these achievements in 2017 to consolidate its position as a credible supervisory authority by prioritising the convergence of supervisory practices and playing a role in advancing the European Commission's agenda in areas such as the Capital Markets Union. Working with a wide range of partners and stakeholders, EIOPA aims to build a strong European supervisory culture for the benefit of European consumers.