Insurance Quarterly Legal And Regulatory Update: 1 October 2025 – 31 December 2025

1 SOLVENCY II

1.1 European Commission adopts Delegated Regulation amending Solvency II Delegated Regulation

On 29 October 2025, the European Commission adopted Delegated Regulation (C(2025) 7206) which amends the Solvency II Delegated Regulation. The Annexes to the Delegated Regulation have been published separately.

The Solvency II Delegated Regulation supplements the Solvency II Directive by setting out prudential rules for insurance and reinsurance companies within the EU. The Solvency II Directive will be amended by the Solvency II Amending Directive¹ , which will introduce and amend more than 12 empowerments for delegated Acts. The Solvency II Amending Directive comes into effect on 30 January 2027 and from that date it will render some provisions of the Solvency II Delegated Regulation obsolete.

Insurers that meet certain clear and quantitative criteria will automatically be classified as small and non-complex undertakings (SNCUs) under the Solvency II Amending Directive. This simplified supervisory regime will impose lighter requirements in areas such as governance, reporting, disclosure, valuation of technical provisions, own-risk and solvency assessment (ORSA) and liquidity risk management planning. Insurers with a simple business model but which do not meet the SNCU criteria can also benefit from these simplified rules, subject to approval from the relevant supervisory authority.

Operational details needed for SNCU's to apply the lighter measures will be set out in the Delegated Regulation, on which the Commission consulted back in July 2025.

In the absence of objections, the Delegated Regulation will be published in the Official Journal of the European Union and will apply from 30 January 2027.

The Delegated Regulation can be accessed here.

The Annexes 1-18 can be accessed here.

2 EIOPA

2.1 EIOPA consults on delegated regulation, ITS and guidelines under Solvency II: October 2025

On 9 October 2025, EIOPA published six consultation papers on mandates relating to the Solvency II Directive. These proposals intend to reflect amendments to the Solvency II Directive pursuant to the Solvency II Amending Directive and the European Commission's consultation in July 2025 on amendments to the Solvency II Delegated Regulation.

The consultation papers published are as follows:

• Consultation paper on the proposal for revised Guidelines on valuation of technical provisions. This consultation paper can be accessed here.
• Consultation paper on the proposal for revised Guidelines on ring- fenced funds. This consultation paper can be accessed here.
• Consultation paper on the proposal for amending Article 58 of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/35 on the simplified calculation of the risk margin. This consultation paper can be accessed here.
• Consultation paper on the proposal for amending Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/500 laying down implementing technical standards with regard to the procedures to be followed for the supervisory approval of the application of a matching adjustment. This consultation paper can be accessed here.
• Consultation paper on the proposal for amending Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2451 laying down implementing technical standards with regard to the templates and structure of the disclosure of specific information by supervisory authorities in accordance with Directive 2009/138/EC. This consultation paper can be accessed here.
• Consultation paper on the proposal for Guidelines on supervisory powers to remedy liquidity vulnerabilities. This consultation paper can be accessed here.

EIOPA invited feedback on these consultations from stakeholders until 5 January 2026.

2.2 EIOPA finalises guidelines on diversity in insurers' boards

On 14 October 2025, EIOPA published guidelines on diversity in the selection of members of the administrative, management or supervisory body (AMSB), along with a final report on these guidelines.

Insurance and reinsurance undertakings are required under Article 41(1) of the Solvency II Directive, as amended by Solvency II Amending Directive, enforce a policy which promotes diversity and sets gender-balance quantitative objectives within their AMSBs.

"Diversity" is defined under the guidelines in reference to a situation where characteristics of members of the AMSB, such as gender, age or educational and professional background, are different to an extent that there are a variety of views within that AMSB.

he guidelines are set to apply from 30 January 2027.

The guidelines can be accessed here and the final report can be accessed here.

2.3 EIOPA finalises revised guidelines on methods for determining market shares for reporting under Solvency II

On 14 October 2025, EIOPA published a set of guidelines and final report on the methods for determining market shares for reporting.

Pursuant to Article 35a(1) and (2) of Solvency II Directive, as amended by Solvency II Amending Directive, supervisory bodies are permitted to reduce supervisory reporting requirements for undertakings that collectively do not represent more than 20% of a member state's life and non-life insurance and reinsurance market respectively.

The guidelines set out certain methods for determining Article 35a(1) and (2) market shares. They also provide the process to be used by supervisory authorities to inform insurance and reinsurance undertakings about any limitation or exemption to quantitative regular supervisory reporting that has been granted by supervisory authorities.

The guidelines cover:

• Information to be used to determine a market share;
• Calculation of the size of life and non-life markets;
• The assessment process for determining whether to grant undertakings a limitation or exemption from reporting requirements.; and
• Information to be provided to undertakings.

The new guidelines will apply from 30 January 2027 and can be accessed here.

The final report can be accessed here.

2.4 European Commission asks EIOPA for technical advice on insurance guarantee schemes

On 14 October 2025. EIOPA published a request and accompanying letter from the European Commission for technical information and advice in respect to common standards for insurance guarantee schemes (IGSs).

This stems from a requirement under Article 98 of Insurance Recovery and Resolution Directive (IRRD) for the Commission to provide a report, along with a legislative proposal if needed, which assesses the appropriateness of minimum common standards for IGSs.

The Commission has requested that EIOPA provide technical information and advice on the following items, among others:

• Whether IGSs within Member States are existing or being established and information in respect of the type of insurance covered, the level of coverage and the triggers for the use of IGS;
• The funding model for IGSs and specifically advice for situations where a pure ex post funding model could operate;
• The level of interaction expected between the IRRD and potential minimum common standards for IGSs within the EU; and
• The operational function of minimum common standards for IGSs, including the trigger moments for IGS activation, time for submission of claims and the deadline for payout to policyholders in compensation cases, conditions and timing for a continuation of policies by IGSs.

EIOPA had previously provided advice on this issue in December 2020 and the Commission has requested that this advice reflects the developments which have occurred since that date.

EIOPA must provide this advice by 31 May 2026 and are expected to produce their report by 29 January 2027.

The request can be accessed here with the accompanying letter accessible here.

2.5 Report on the use of limitations and exemptions in Solvency II reporting in the EEA

On 30 October 2025, EIOPA published their annual report on the use of limitations and exemptions from Solvency II reporting. This includes an overview of the number of National Competent Authorities (NCAs) which grant limitations and/or exemptions from reporting requirements under Solvency II to solo undertakings and groups in the European Economic Area (EEA).

The report details that in 2024, the same four NCAs granted limitations and/or exemptions from annual reporting to 119 solo undertakings, compared to 118 in 2023. This number represents 5.13% of the total number of solo undertakings, an increase from 5.04% reported in 2022.

The full annual report can be accessed here.

2.6 EIOPA final reports on draft RTS on new macroprudential requirements

On 17 November 2025, EIOPA published the following final reports containing draft regulatory standards (RTS), introduced under the Solvency II Directive and amended by the Solvency II Amending Directive:

• A final report on the draft RTS for liquidity risk management plans. The RTS lay out the criteria for selecting undertakings that need to perform medium and long-term liquidity analyses in addition to short-term. Following feedback, amendments have been made to the draft RTS to ensure a risk-based and proportionate approach. These include an increase in the baseline threshold for carrying out liquidity analyses over medium and long term from 12 billion to 20 billion. The default frequency of update of the liquidity risk management plan was changed from quarterly to annually.
• A final report on the draft RTS on the applicability criteria for macroprudential analyses in own risk and solvency assessment and as part of the prudent person principle. The combination of a quantitative threshold and risk-based criteria for selection of macroprudential analyses aims to give sufficient leeway to supervisors in decision-making. In response to feedback, EIOPA has now refined the draft RTS and increased the quantitative threshold to ensure proportionality.

The draft RTS were submitted to the European Commission for review, which is due to decide upon their adoption by the end of February.

2.7 EIOPA consults on revised guidelines on group solvency calculations and reporting

On 5 December 2025, EIOPA published two consultation papers relating to the proposed amendments to guidelines under Solvency II, as amended by the Solvency II Amending Directive.

The consultation papers published are as follows:

• A consultation paper relating to proposed revised guidelines on group solvency. These revised guidelines update the original text published in 2015 to reflect the amended Solvency II framework and also amend provisions to provide further clarification on solvency calculations.
• A consultation paper in respect to a proposal for revised guidelines on reporting and public disclosure, as the guidelines in place since 2015 require updating following the Solvency II review, particularly to reflect the new solvency and financial condition reports (SFCR) structure.

Both papers aim to clarify and streamline existing guidance and also to delete any information which is unclear or no longer consistent with the legal framework.

Comments may be made on the proposals until 27 February 2026. The final guidelines will apply once the amended Solvency II Directive comes into effect.

2.8 EIOPA final reports on revised level 3 materials under amended Solvency II Directive

On 5 December 2025, EIOPA published two final reports and a revised opinion under Solvency II² , as amended by the Solvency II Amending Directive³ :

• A final report on guidelines on the exclusion of undertakings from the scope of group supervision. EIOPA has now clarified the relevance of dividend payments to the ultimate parent undertaking where group supervision is applied at the level of an intermediate participant undertaking.
• A final report on revised guidelines in respect of related undertakings. Following changes to the definition of participations in financial and credit institutions and their deduction from own funds under the original 2015 guidelines, the explanatory text of guidelines 3 was amended to clarify the proportionate application of that guideline.
• A final report on a revised opinion relating to the supervisory assessment of internal models, to include dynamic volatility adjustment. This opinion has been updated in order to ensure consistency with the revised volatility adjustment framework under the amended Solvency II Directive.

These revised guidelines will apply from 30 January 2027, when national measures to transpose the amended Solvency II Directive will come into effect.

To view the full pdf, click here.

Footnotes

1. Directive (EU) 2025/2

2. Solvency II Directive (2009/138/EC)

3. Solvency II Amending Directive ((EU) 2025/2)

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