The looming prospect of Brexit has resulted in a great many opportunities and challenges for the IFoA to engage with policymakers on actuarial issues.
The looming prospect of Brexit has resulted in a great many opportunities and challenges for the IFoA to engage with policymakers on actuarial issues.
Questions of how to get the best deal for Britain from the divorce are coupled with questions around the new laws that the UK will be passing to replace those for which the EU was previously responsible.
The Treasury Committee (TC) seized the initiative in announcing last year an inquiry into European insurance regulation - essentially an examination of the Solvency II regime and how it might be improved upon in a post-Brexit Britain.
After submitting written evidence, the TC invited the IFoA to give further evidence at an oral hearing in Westminster, testifying before members of the committee itself, under the chairmanship of Andrew Tyrie MP.
Andrew Chamberlain, chair of the Life Board, gave evidence on the IFoA's behalf in a technical session also attended by representatives of KPMG and PwC. He covered some of the issues with the Solvency II regime in the UK and their implications, such as the risk margin and the matching adjustment. He also considered the trade-off between policyholder security and policyholder value for money.
Tyrie has written to the IFoA stating that he and the committee found our contribution "extremely useful", and expressed his appreciation for our input.
The IFoA's attendance at the committee was followed a week later by a dual-site sessional event - a first in the organisation's history.
This drew together IFoA working parties from Staple Inn and Edinburgh, and featured a live video feed between both sites, plus an on-site presentation and discussion.
Chamberlain gave a debrief on our evidence to the TC. This included details of the wider context to the committee and an explanation of the role of the inquiry. He described the Solvency II issues and effects covered, and the debate over the Prudential Regulation Authority's competition objective.
There then followed updates from two working parties relevant to the themes of the TC inquiry; with Dick Rae representing the Retrospective on Solvency II working party, and Andy Rogan appearing from the Transitional Measure on Technical Provisions working party.
The event closed with a Q&A session live from both sites.
The event was a huge success, and the IFoA hopes to replicate this model for future sessional meetings. We will continue to advance evidence on this issue, and expect the TC report on Solvency II to be published before the summer.