Bringing Together IFRS And Solvency II (November 2012)

Overview

Failure to agree leads to delay

Solvency II

The text for the Solvency II Directive is largely known, with much of the detail likely to remain unchanged from drafts already in circulation. However, the Council of the European Union (representing national governments around the European Union), the European Commission and the European Parliament (the 'trialogue parties') have failed to agree on measures to address products with long term guarantees (a consensus is necessary for the Directive to go through). Subsequently, the European Parliament has amended the indicative date for the vote on the Directive, which will allow the trialogue parties more time to reach an agreement and will also make it virtually impossible for the Directive to go live on 1 January 2014 (due to the procedures required in the legislative process). At the time of publication, the exact delay is unclear however we understand that one to two years from 2014 is being considered.