Originally published in Financial Centres
International, September 2011.
Across the insurance industry there has been one issue in
particular which has received more attention than any other in the
last couple of years – Solvency II.
The EU's proposed regulatory regime for insurance and
reinsurance business has been heavily debated and its introduction
much anticipated. Solvency II was due to come into effect from 1
January 2013 but we are hearing is that this is now very likely to
be delayed by a year to 1 January 2014. The uncertainty surrounding
its introduction and also the implications in practice is causing
some angst around Europe.
However, in Guernsey, we have opted for certainty. The Island is
not part of the EU so we are not required to adopt Solvency II and
our Government and the financial services regulator have issued a
joint statement to say that currently the Island doesn't have
any plans to seek equivalence under Solvency II.
