EIOPA and Joint Committee of ESAs Publish Work Programs

The ESAs will continue their work on artificial intelligence and use of behavioral finance findings for supervisory purposes. The Joint Committee will increase its efforts in the area of the Digital Finance Package of EC, including the legislative proposals on digital operational resilience. A special emphasis will also be on monitoring and analyzing technological innovations, including suptech. Focus will be on the implementation of the expected mandates that will stem from the Digital Finance Package. One example is the EC request to EBA, EIOPA, and ESMA for technical advice on digital finance and related issues, which is to be delivered by January 2022. Through the European Forum for Innovation Facilitators (EFIF), the Joint Committee will further promote coordination and cooperation among national innovation facilitators to foster the scaling up of innovation in the financial sector across European Union, in line with the European Commission's Fintech Action Plan. The Joint Committee will also address other cross-sectoral matters such as the cross-sectoral mandates and questions (Q&As) stemming from SFDR and the Securitization Regulation.

In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic impact, the Joint Committee will closely monitor and assess emerging key cross-sectoral risks and vulnerabilities for the financial stability. The Joint Committee will publish its bi-annual cross-sectoral risk reports, which will be submitted and presented to the Financial Stability Table of the Economic and Financial Committee in Spring and Autumn 2022. With regard to the impact of the COVID-19 crisis, the Joint Committee will discuss potential additional regulatory and supervisory joint responses to mitigate risks, to support the financial sector’s resilience and to contribute to a sustainable economic recovery. In the area of financial conglomerates, the Joint Committee will publish the annual list of financial conglomerates and work on specific conglomerate’s reporting templates. Furthermore, through the Joint Committee, ESAs will continue to fulfil their mandate on the mapping and monitoring of on external credit assessment institutions (ECAIs) under the Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR) and Solvency II.

In a related development, EIOPA has also set out the multi-annual work program for 2022-2024 as well as the annual work program for 2022. The strategic activity areas of the work program for 2022-2024 include integrating sustainable finance considerations across all areas of work, supporting the market and supervisory community through digital transformation, ensuring good governance, and identifying, assessing, monitoring, and reporting on risks to the financial stability. According to the annual work program, in 2022, EIOPA will follow up to the 2020 opinion on the Solvency II framework, including in relation to the proportionality principle. In 2022, EIOPA will also focus on developing a methodology for assessing cyber-risk exposures and vulnerabilities. EIOPA will enhance its risk assessment framework, furthering the incorporation of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) risks.

Related Links

• Notification on ESAs Work Program
• ESAs Work Program (PDF)
• Notification on EIOPA Work Program
• EIOPA Work Program (PDF)

Keywords: Europe, EU, Banking, Insurance, Securities, Work Program, European Green Deal, Sustainable Finance, SFDR, NFRD, Fintech, Securitization, CRR, Basel, Solvency II, ESG, Proportionality, ECAI, Cyber Risk, EIOPA, ESAs