Insurance industry: a post-Brexit Big Bang?
Insurance regulations are ‘ripe for reform’, but there are dangers in rushing changes through
How’s Britain’s Brexit bounceback going? Not so well, according to one Tory grandee, said Michiel Willems in City AM. The former party leader Iain Duncan Smith opined that, more than two years after quitting the EU, the Government has done “sweet FA” to exploit opportunities and shift the most “burdensome” EU regulations. Corporate leaders, meanwhile, have rounded on the newly appointed Brexit Opportunities Minister, Jacob Rees-Mogg, for claiming that – despite a £20bn collapse in UK to EU exports last year – “evidence that Brexit has caused trade drops is few and far between”. As one ParcelHero executive put it, the minister seems to be calling upon “the reality-bending powers of Marvel’s Dr Strange”.
There’s at least one solid good news story that Rees-Mogg can trumpet, said The Daily Telegraph. The Government’s plan to ditch the “controversial Solvency II rulebook” governing insurers is a big step forward in the drive to scrap EU red tape. Some predict it could unleash “an £80bn Brexit Big Bang” in the City, spurring investment in the UK economy. Insurers and pension funds have claimed “their hands are currently tied” by the rules, which restrict “how much they can plough into illiquid assets like infrastructure”. It was either “polite, or canny” of big insurers like L&G and Aviva to play along with the spin that this is some kind of Brexit “bonfire of red tape”, said Nils Pratley in The Guardian. The reality is that the EU was “quicker to signal its own bonfire”: it announced a review of the rules last September. Still, reform is welcome. It’s difficult for the layperson to steer through the technical jargon of “matching adjustments” and “solvency capital requirements”, but the insurers’ trade body, the ABI, has offered a good illustration of the “perverse incentives” created by Solvency II: it is currently much easier for a pension fund managed by an insurer “to invest in a highly rated mining company than it is to invest for 30 years in a wind farm”. It’s hard to fathom how that status quo is supposed to protect policyholders.
Still, reform is no silver bullet, “and likely won’t be a bonanza for shareholders or investment”, said Paul J. Davies on Bloomberg. The real limit on insurers’ ambitions is finding enough suitable assets. “Tweaking insurance capital rules isn’t going to create new wind farms in the North Sea overnight.” There are also risks. “Britain’s original risk-based insurance rules were created after the dot-com bubble burst and nearly ruined much of the industry, which had loaded up on stocks.” In a world “awash in debt”, the Government “should be very careful about letting insurers release capital or take more risks”.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Why Bhutan hopes tourists will put a smile back on its face
Under The Radar The 'kingdom of happiness' is facing economic problems and unprecedented emigration
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
7 beautiful towns to visit in Switzerland during the holidays
The Week Recommends Find bliss in these charming Swiss locales that blend the traditional with the modern
By Catherine Garcia, The Week US Published
-
The Week contest: Werewolf bill
Puzzles and Quizzes
By The Week US Published
-
Volkswagen on the ropes: a crisis of its own making
Talking Point The EV revolution has 'left VW in the proverbial dust'
By The Week UK Published
-
The World Bank and the IMF: still fit for purpose?
In the Spotlight Washington meeting has renewed focus on whether 80-year-old Bretton Woods 'twin' institutions are able to tackle the challenges of the future
By The Week UK Published
-
Post Office: still-troubled horizons
Talking Point Sub-postmasters continue to report issues with Horizon IT system behind 'one of the worst miscarriages of justice in British legal history'
By The Week UK Published
-
The UK's national debt: a terrifying warning
Talking Points OBR's 'grim' report on Britain's fiscal outlook warns of skyrocketing spending, but 'projection' is not a 'forecast'
By The Week Published
-
Copper coins: are they doomed?
Talking Point Treasury says no new 1ps and 2ps needed due to declining use – but would we really miss them?
By The Week UK Published
-
Why au pairs might become a thing of the past
Under The Radar Brexit and wage ruling are threatening the 'mutually beneficial arrangement'
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
Brexit: where we are four years on
The Explainer Questions around immigration, trade and Northern Ireland remain as 'divisive as ever'
By The Week UK Published
-
Shein: could the year’s mega-IPO fall apart at the seams?
Talking Point Latest hitch is a pre-float 'security review' that could deter potential investors
By The Week UK Published