European Parliamentary vote is welcome step forward, says ECIROA

The European Captive Insurance and Reinsurance Owners’ Association (ECIROA) welcomed the vote by the European Parliament to adopt the proposed Solvency II Framework directive.

The amendments made since the previous vote in October 2008 do not affect captives but the adoption on April 22 and the expected adoption by ECOFIN on 5 May are necessary steps in the rapid development of Solvency II, said the association.

The framework specifically references captives specifying that: ‘the new solvency regime should also take account of the specific nature of captive insurance and reinsurance undertakings’.

The treatment of captives under Solvency II is not only an issue for the domiciles hosting the captives but also the countries the captive owners are based in, both European and non-European.

For this reason, the members of ECIROA are the captive owners themselves who are the parent companies of captives in various European countries.

ECIROA is a forum for captive insurance owners to discuss areas of common interest and to lobby regulators.