Insurance & Pension Denmark (I&P Denmark) has welcomed the proposal for the European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs), including the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA), to consider companies’ competitiveness when developing new regulation and supervising the sector.

The proposal was made at a European Parliament's Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs meeting held earlier this week (28 September) and suggested that the ESAs (EIOPA, European Banking Authority and European Securities and Markets Authority) should have a secondary mandate to also take into account the competitiveness of European companies when developing new regulation and supervising.

“Europe cannot, on the one hand, call for stronger competitiveness and, on the other hand, exempt its own supervisory authorities from taking responsibility for assessing the impact of new regulation,” I&P Denmark deputy director, Torben Weiss Garne, argued.

“When EIOPA develops new rules, it should be a regular part of the work to assess how they affect the competitiveness of European companies.”

The proposal comes at a similar time to the EIOPA’s update on its approach to simplification.

This update saw the authority reaffirm its commitment to reducing administrative burden in a constructive and balanced way. However, EIOPA also emphasised that simplification should be a continuous, long-term guiding principle of regulatory and supervisory work, not a one-off exercise.

Despite Garne highlighting this as a “positive step”, he argues that it is “by no means sufficient”.

“We fully agree that financial stability and customer protection must continue to be core tasks. No one disputes that. However, when new rules are developed, the impact of their impact on the competitiveness of the European insurance and pensions industry should also be explicitly considered. The two considerations do not have to be in opposition to each other,” he said.

I&P Denmark suggested that the pension and insurance industry has, for several years, experienced more detailed requirements, including extensive reporting and and disclosure obligations.

“All new requirements have a cost. Therefore, new rules should be accompanied by thorough assessments of whether the benefits are commensurate with the burdens. This is especially true at a time when Europe is struggling to strengthen growth, investment and competitiveness,” Garne concluded.

The discussion on a secondary competitiveness mandate for the ESAs is expected to feed into the upcoming discussions on the European Union’s work on simplification and better regulation.

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