EIOPA Finalizes Guidelines on ICT Security and Governance
EIOPA finalized the guidelines on information and communication technology (ICT) security and governance for the insurance sector. The guidelines address how rules on operational risks set forth in the Solvency II Directive and in the Delegated Regulation 2015/35 are applied to the ICT security and governance. EIOPA consulted on the draft guidelines between December 2019 and March 2020 and has also published its response to the key issues raised in the feedback. The guidelines are intended for both market participants and the national supervisory authorities, which are expected to apply these guidelines from July 01, 2021.
The objective of the guidelines is to promote the increase of the operational resilience of the digital operations of insurance and reinsurance undertakings against the risks they face. Operational resilience is key to protecting the digital assets (including their systems and data) of insurance and reinsurance undertakings. The guidelines provide clarification and transparency to market participants on the minimum expected information and cyber-security capabilities and help to avoid potential regulatory arbitrage. These guidelines are also intended to foster supervisory convergence regarding the expectations and processes applicable in relation to ICT security and governance as a key to proper ICT and security risk management.
Competent authorities should, when complying or supervising compliance with these guidelines, take into account the principle of proportionality. This principle should should ensure that governance arrangements, including those related to ICT security and governance are proportionate to the nature, scale, and complexity of the corresponding risks undertakings face or may face. The guidelines should be read in conjunction with the Solvency II Directive, the Delegated Regulation 2015/35, the EIOPA guidelines on system of governance, and the EIOPA guidelines on outsourcing to cloud service providers.
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Effective Date: July 01, 2021 (expected)
Keywords: Europe, EU, Insurance, Governance, Operational Risk, Solvency II, Cloud Service Providers, ICT Risk, EIOPA
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