EIOPA Publishes Report on Use of Capital Add-Ons Under Solvency II

The analysis is based on 2017 year-end Solvency II data, as reported by the undertakings and insurance groups via the Solvency II Quantitative Reporting Templates (QRTs) and an additional survey addressed to the national competent authorities from the 28 EU member states and three European economic area members. The report shows that a slight increase in the use of capital add-ons can be seen, although the overall usage remains extremely limited. During 2017, six national competent authorities have set capital add-ons to 23 solo insurance and reinsurance undertakings. This limited usage might be due to the negative image that is attributed to capital add-ons or to the level of judgment that is associated to the decision and calculation of the capital add-ons, which in turn inhibits supervisors from using it.

Even if the capital add-ons are not used often, when used, they have a material impact on the Solvency Capital Requirement (SCR) of some of the entities. The weight of capital add-ons ranges from a low of 1% to a high of 83%, with an average of 30% of the total SCR. The capital add-on seems to be a good and positive measure to adjust the SCR to the risks of the undertaking, when the application of other measures is not adequate—such as the development of an internal model—as in 18 cases the capital add-on was already set in 2016. 

Related Links

• News Release
• Report (PDF)

Keywords: Europe, EU, Insurance, Solvency II, Capital Add-ons, SCR, Quantitative Reporting Templates, EIOPA