CEA Director General, Michaela Koller, said in the statement that “Europe’s insurers have diversified income streams with a conservative asset mix and they have liabilities that tend to be much more stable in their pricing.” As a result, she said, European institutions were geared for the long term and “unlikely to be overly affected by short-term liquidity concerns.” Ms Koller acknowledged that European insurers had been affected by the general global fall in equity prices and by exposures to writedowns in some sectors.
The CEA also said the European Union’s proposed Solvency II regulatory regime would improve companies’ ability to resist crises such as the credit crunch by increasing transparency and enhancing risk management in companies. Solvency II is expected to come into force in 2012 but many companies have already begun the implementation process.
