Dear Sir or Madam,

The Groupe Consultatif Summer School 2009 on "Solvency II" is hosted by the Dutch Actuarial Association, with organisational support by the European Actuarial Academy. The event is planned to take place on 8th - 10th July 2009 in Utrecht, the Netherlands.

Solvency II, a new, risk-based supervisory framework for the supervision of European insurance and reinsurance companies, is planned to be implemented in 2012.

The process for approving the Solvency II Directive through April 2009 is as follows. A ‘final’ version of the Directive, referred to as the ‘Presidency compromise’ was produced in negotiations between the EU Parliament and the Council of European Union Finance Ministers (ECOFIN). The ‘Presidency compromise’ Directive has been approved by the EU Parliament vote on 22nd April.

Compared with the July 2007 version of the Directive, the main changes are:

• In the ‘Presidency compromise’ the measures for ‘supervision of insurance groups’ remain but the key component of ‘groups support regime’ has been excluded. This exclusion leaves insurance groups with no facility to take credit for inter-group capital commitments and thereby no facility to hold less than the solo capital requirement in a subsidiary
• In the ‘Presidency compromise’ there are modifications to the equity sub-module which are intended to reduce the pro-cyclical effect (i.e. the effect where once equity values have fallen, insurers are forced to sell equities, further exacerbating asset values losses)

The 4th Quantitative Impact Study (QIS 4) was carried out at a European level during the period April-July 2008 to assess the impact of the proposed framework on insurance companies. The Committee of European Insurers and Occupational Pensions Supervisors (CEIOPS), the responsible institution to conduct these studies, published the results of QIS 4 at the end of last year. These results form the basis for further negotiations for the development of the forthcoming framework.

The 4th Quantitative Impact Study was a valuable source of information for further development of the forthcoming framework and it is important that both the number of insurers and the number of participating countries increased considerably.

"However, it should be mentioned that QIS 4 was carried out using financial data mainly as of December 2007 and that means that does not incorporate the consequences of the international credit crisis. Taking the above into consideration there is an imperative need for new QIS in order to measure the impact of the crisis on the Solvency position of insurance companies." says Paul de Beus from Ernst & Young, one of the speakers at the Groupe Consultatif Summer School 2009.

As a result, many insurance companies across Europe are now considering repeating QIS 4 on 2008 data. This will happen in the coming months, in the period April-August 2009.

The Summer School on "Solvency II" focuses on a broader knowledge and understanding of Solvency II guidelines and the Quantitative Impact Study QIS 4. The participants will gain deeper insight into the background theory and relevant risks, and will improve their skills in calculation. Another aspect will be the common ground of Solvency II with other laws and regulations (like IFRS4 phase 2, MCEV).

The early-bird registration fee was € 695 until 1st May 2009. Now it's € 750.

Please find the registration form and detailed information on the Summer School online at www.actuarial-academy.com.

To register please visit the EAA website.