New Solvency Regulation : What CEOs of Insurance Companies Think

Current reforms of solvency regulation in Europe include the Swiss Solvency Test, already in force in Switzerland since 2011, and the planned move by the European Union from the Solvency I to the Solvency II framework over the coming years. These changes bring with them more stringent requirements in many areas and thus have a broad impact on the European insurance industry. The scope of this paper is to analyze, on the basis of an industry survey, the perceived magnitude of the impact, the effects, and the uncertainty accompanying these reforms. These results are then reflected with the companies' strategic adaption to the new frameworks with particular regard to decision making, political activity, management of uncertainty, and the internal and external adaptation. The study highlights significant differences in perception by country, size of business and dominant business line. Furthermore, selected perceived effects of new solvency regulation are shown to have a significant impact on (planned) sites and scope of business model adaptation.