madam president i welcome the agreement for solvency ii and like others i regret the relegation of group support to a future review and the eventual inability on the part of the council to explore with us ways to make it workable taking into account some well founded concerns
in both the committee on legal affairs and the committee on economic and monetary affairs i looked at what happens to the movement of capital at times of group stress such as near-insolvency and it is certainly not as straightforward as the commission draft or insurance industry representatives portrayed
however there are instruments available that could achieve the objective and we recommended level two measures but now we are left to look for the future for ways to maximise safe economic use of capital in a group
i hope that member states will rise to the challenge when it comes to looking for better solutions on winding-up
turning now to some of the things in the package changes to article twenty-seven specified that supervisory authorities must have relevant expertise and capacity
i made the original amendment in part with the report on equitable life in mind but in the context of the financial crisis it has a wider resonance and i have achieved similar inclusions in the capital requirements and credit-rating proposals
it must be absolutely clear that taking a risk-based approach is not a soft option
proper understanding of models and underlying assumptions should be a more intensive way of supervising than tick-boxes
stress tests must challenge beyond the comfort zone of assumptions and correlation factors should remain under active review
group supervision is now made an inclusive process not winner-takes-all for the group supervisor although there has to be responsibility at a single end point ultimately
the role of ceiops is augmented and it is worth stressing that it was the discussion around solvency ii that led the way towards mainstream thinking on enhanced roles for the level three committees
importantly it is also clarified that there should not be conflicts between the mandate of a national supervisor and its role within ceiops
these amendments were somewhat prescient when made quite some time ago but have shown their worth as the financial crisis has developed
as the rapporteur has said the parliament team has done well and in the context of solvency ii so has the czech presidency
