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Permission for non-disclosure of information in SFCR

Permission for non-disclosure of Information in the Report on solvency and financial Condition

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Overview of the measure

Insurance institutions and groups subject to Solvency II publish an annual Solvency and Financial Condition Report (SFCR) for public consumption. In particular, this report describes the institution’s or the group’s business and results, governance system, risk profile and valuation methods for solvency and capital management purposes. It also sets out and explains any significant changes relative to the previous period.

 

Insurance institutions and groups may, in certain cases, and subject to prior agreement from the ACPR, not publish certain confidential information in their Solvency and Financial Condition Report, if the information in question meets the following criteria:

  • Publication of the information would give competitors a significant undue advantage.
  • The institution or group is bound by secrecy or confidentiality as a result of obligations toward policyholders or any other relationships with third parties.

 

In such cases, the institution or group should indicate as such in its report and explain the reasons. Authorisation will not be given for institutions or groups not to publish critical information on capital management. This information includes the following:

  • capital structure
  • amount of the solvency capital requirement (SCR) and the minimum capital requirement (MCR)
  • options used to calculate the solvency capital requirement
  • information needed to properly understand the main differences between assumptions underlying the standard formula and those underlying the internal model used to calculate the solvency capital requirement, where applicable
  • in the event of a breach of the minimum capital requirement or a serious breach of the solvency capital requirement occurring during the period under review, the amount of the breach in question, even if the problem has subsequently been resolved, together with an explanation of the reasons and consequences, as well as any corrective action taken The same provisions apply for single group reports.
Regulatory references

The provisions on the non-publication of information in the Solvency and Financial Condition Report are laid down, for institutions and mutatis mutandis for groups, in Articles R.355-9 and R.356-57 of the Insurance Code, applicable to institutions and groups covered by each of the three codes, which transpose Articles 53 and 256 of Directive 2009/138/EC, known as “Solvency II”.

 

They are clarified in Articles 299 and, for groups, 361 and 367 of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/35, known as “Level 2”.

Content of the application

For each piece of information for which the institution or group is seeking authorisation not to publish, the application must demonstrate that it meets one of the two criteria set out above.

Procedure

Applications must be submitted to the ACPR at least five months before the end of the period covered by the Solvency and Financial Condition Report. For the first SFCR, authorisations relating to this report must therefore be sought no later than July 2016.

 

Reminder: institutions (or groups) must publish their first SFCR no more than 20 weeks (or 26 weeks) after the balance sheet date of their 2016 financial statements; this submission deadline will subsequently shorten to reach the target submission deadline of 14 weeks (or 20 weeks) for the report in respect of the 2019 financial statements. Where a single group report is published, the deadline with effect from the report in respect of the 2019 financial statements is 14 weeks, the same as the deadline applicable to individual institutions.

 

Applications should be sent by post to the following address, as well as by e-mail to the inspection team responsible for the group:

 

Secrétariat général de l’Autorité de contrôle prudentiel et de résolution
Brigade de contrôle des organismes d’assurance
61, rue Taitbout
75436 Paris Cedex 09

 

The ACPR will reach its authorisation decision before the end of the period in question. By exception, an application may be submitted before the date stated above and at least two months before the date on which the Solvency and Financial Condition Report is published. In order to be admissible, this application must state the reasons why it could not be submitted earlier.

 

In any event, the submission of such an application may not be cited as a reason not to publish the Solvency and Financial Condition Report within the stipulated timescales.

Validity of authorisations

Authorisation not to publish an item of information remains valid only as long as the reason for such non-publication continues to exist.

 

Institutions must notify the ACPR as soon as the reason for such non-publication ceases to exist.

Updated on: 06/07/2018 15:09