The Steering Committee of the EU-US Dialogue Project invites public comment on the draft factual Report based on the results of the Project’s seven technical committees.
The objective of the Project, which builds on more than a decade of EU-US regulatory dialogue, is to deepen insight into the overall design, function and objectives of the key aspects of the insurance supervisory regimes in the European Union and the United States, and to identify important characteristics of both regimes.
The Report addresses the following seven areas and identifies key commonalities and differences of the two regimes: Professional secrecy and confidentiality; Group supervision; Solvency and capital requirements; Reinsurance and collateral requirements; Supervisory reporting, data collection and analysis and disclosure; Supervisory peer reviews; Independent third party reviews and supervisory on-site inspections; All interested parties can contribute to the consultation process by participating in the two public hearings that will take place at 14.00 hrs EDT on 12 October 2012 in Washington DC at the Grand Hyatt and at 10.00 hrs CET on 16 October 2012 in Brussels at the Centre de Conférences Albert Borschette.
Requests to provide oral statements during the public hearings should be sent by 10 October 2012 to the following email addresses: tom.finnell{at}treasury.gov (Link: tom.finnell@treasury.gov ) (Washington Hearing) and Manuela.Zweimueller{at}eiopa.europa.eu (Link: Manuela.Zweimueller@eiopa.europa.eu ) (Brussels Hearing).
Registration to attend the hearings – whether or not there is an intent to provide an oral statement – has to be carried out via the respective email account and webpage: Washington Hearing: useuprojecthearingdc{at}naic.org (Link: useuprojecthearingdc@naic.org ) Brussels Hearing (Please note that the registration will start as of the next week only): http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/insurance/solvency/latest/index_en.htm (Link: http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/insurance/solvency/latest/index_en.htm ) Written submissions by all interested parties are also welcome and can be sent to the email address: EUUSProjectReport{at}eiopa.europa.eu (Link: EUUSProjectReport@eiopa.europa.eu ) before 23.55 hrs CET on 28 October 2012.
The EU-US Dialogue Project started in early 2012, when the European Commission (EC), EIOPA, the US National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) and the Federal Insurance Office of the US Department of the Treasury (FIO) agreed to participate in a deeper dialogue project (Project) to contribute to an increased mutual understanding and enhanced cooperation between the EU and the U.S. to promote business opportunity, consumer protection and effective supervision.
Seven Technical Committees (TC) of the Project were established in order to address the above outlined specific topics. Each TC comprises experienced professionals from both the European Union and the United States, specifically, from FIO, the EC, the NAIC and EIOPA, as well as representatives from state insurance regulatory agencies in the US and competent authorities of EU Member States.
The Steering Committee of the Project was established in order to take all key decisions on the direction of the Project and to provide clarity to the technical committees. The Steering Committee consists of six members, comprised of three US and three EU officials: Michael McRaith, Director of FIO; Kevin McCarty, President of the NAIC; Terri Vaughan, CEO of the NAIC; Karel Van Hulle, EC Head of Unit, Gabriel Bernardino, Chairman of EIOPA; and Ed Forshaw, Manager Prudential Policy Division of the FSA and Chair of EIOPA’s Equivalence Committee.
