A new regime for senior insurance managers: changes to the approved persons regime for Solvency II firms

In November 2014, the PRA and the FCA proposed wide-ranging reforms of the Approved Persons Regime (APR) for insurers and reinsurers.

The PRA will introduce a Senior Insurance Managers Regime (SIMR), in line with its commitment to extend to insurers changes being made for banks. Outrage expressed about a lack of individual accountability has been more muted in the case of insurers than for banks. The underlying driver for change is, however, the same. It is considered unacceptable for senior managers within financial institutions to shirk responsibility when those institutions fail. The fast-approaching Solvency II start date was a further reason for the PRA and the FCA (together, the Regulators) to look again at the APR.

This paper considers the PRA's plans for a SIMR (CP26/14). It also looks at the FCA's proposed amendments to the APR (CP14/25) and at later papers issued by the PRA and FCA connected with the changes, including proposals for non-executive directors (NEDs) and feedback statements published to date.

Please find the full paper here.