A number of steps towards closer integration were announced in the statement, including urging financial markets’ regulators to make significant strides by the end of 2008 to identify the steps that need to be taken to create a true level playing-field for EU and US insurance companies in each other’s jurisdiction. Further details on this and other parts of the work program will be addressed in the Progress Report of the TEC to the Summit. The statement was welcomed by insurers on both sides of the Atlantic.
The Comite Europeen des Assurances (CEA) and the American Council of Life Insurers had previously issued a joint statement prior to the TEC forum calling for a bilateral insurance forum to convene before the end of the year under the auspices of the Financial Market Regulatory Dialogue, with the goal of mapping out both interim and long-term solutions to cross-border regulatory issues (see blog entry here).
Following the TEC statement, the European Commission joined Lloyd’s in rejecting 100 per cent collateral requirements for alien reinsurers doing business in the US. Karel van Hulle, Head of insurance and pensions, DG internal market and services at the European Commission, spoke for the EC at a Lloyd’s conference on “Insurance Law and Regulation”. He noted the TEC statement and confirmed support for moves against the US collateral requirement for alien reinsurers.
The TEC is a joint political-level body set up following the EU-US Summit meeting of 30 April 2007 to oversee implementation of the Framework for Advancing Economic Integration, which commits the EU and US to deepen and broaden transatlantic economic ties. The annual EU-US Summits are held alternatively in the EU member countries and the United States, with the aim of deepening the two bodies’ strategic relationship. The next Summit will take place in Slovenia in June 2008.
