Solvency II impacts on Investment Managers

Solvency II is a new solvency regime for all EU insurers to be implemented by 2012. Similar to Basel II for banks, it is sets the capital requirements for insurers on a risk basis, and has a three-pillar structure covering quantitative requirements, supervisory review and market disclosure.

In the 2009 IMA survey, insurance assets accounted for 23% of the total assets managed in the UK. Investment managers owned by large insurance companies are beginning to be engaged in their Solvency II implementation projects and are identifying a number of key impacts on their investment management operations. However, it does not seem as though many other investment managers have started assessing the potential impact on their business. As such, this presents an opportunity for investment managers to be proactive and get on the front foot with their insurance clients and targets.