Brazil and the European Union are planning joint actions to foster investments in their insurance markets.
A major development is an agreement that is being negotiated by the Brazilian Private Insurance Authority (SUSEP, its acronym in Portuguese) and the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA), which seeks an equivalency between Brazilian and European prudential and solvency systems.
According to SUSEP, the agreement will allow the establishment in Brazil of insurers headquartered in European Union countries without additional capital requirements. The details of the conditions that would be applicable are yet to be disclosed.
Europe is currently implementing the final phase of the Solvency II Project, a guideline issued by the European Parliament that established stricter capital requirements to insurance companies. It provides that, in addition to a minimum capital, insurers shall maintain a solvency capital (a higher level of capital that works as early warning for interventions in case of shortfalls).
SUSEP and EIOPA agreed that EIOPA will conduct a study comparing the existing standards in Brazil with the policies of the Solvency II Project.
The purpose of such study is to investigate the best practices adopted in Brazil and in Europe. The actions in the areas of capital management, liability adequacy and technical provisions are quite similar.
In addition, the government of the United Kingdom announced, in December 2013, the UK Insurance Growth Plan, which has as main objective the growth of the insurance market and the strengthening of the sector's contribution to the British economy.
In this plan, Brazil is listed as a strategic market together with China, India, Indonesia and Turkey. There is a commitment to target these markets for UK inbound and outbound investments.
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