[F1Article 3 U.K. The PRA's powers to make technical standards and publish technical information
1. For the purposes of using credit assessments from external credit assessment institutions (ECAIs) in the calculation of the Solvency Capital Requirement in accordance with the standard formula, the PRA may make technical standards on the allocation of credit assessments from ECAIs to an objective scale of credit quality steps.
2. The objective scale of credit quality steps referred to in Article 109a(1) of Directive 2009/138/EC must include credit quality steps 0 to 6.
3. The allocation of credit quality steps referred to in paragraph 1 must be consistent with the use of external credit assessments from ECAIs in the calculation of the capital requirements for credit institutions as defined in Article 4(1)(1) of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 and financial institutions as defined in Article 4(1) (26) thereof.
4. For the purposes of facilitating the calculation of the market risk module referred to in rule 3.11 of the Solvency Capital Requirement – Standard Formula part of the PRA Rulebook, facilitating the calculation of the counterparty default risk module referred to in rule 3.12 of that part of the Rulebook, evaluating risk mitigation techniques referred to in rule 3.5 of the Solvency Capital Requirement – General Provisions part of the PRA Rulebook, and calculating technical provisions, the PRA may make technical standards on:
(a) lists of regional governments and local authorities, exposures to whom are to be treated as exposures to the central government of the jurisdiction in which they are established, provided that there is no difference in risk between such exposures because of the specific revenue-raising powers of the former, and specific institutional arrangements exist, the effect of which is to reduce the risk of default;
(b) the equity index referred to in Article 172(1) of this Regulation, in accordance with the detailed criteria established in Article 172;
(c) the adjustments to be made for currencies pegged to the euro in the currency risk sub-module referred to in rule 3.11 of the Solvency Capital Requirement – Standard Formula part of the PRA Rulebook, in accordance with the detailed criteria for the adjustments for currencies pegged to the euro for the purpose of facilitating the calculation of the currency risk sub-module.
5. The PRA must publish technical information including information concerning the symmetric adjustment referred to in the Solvency Capital Requirement – Standard Formula part of the PRA Rulebook on at least a quarterly basis.
6. For the purpose of facilitating the calculation of the health underwriting risk module referred to in rule 3.10 of the Solvency Capital Requirement – Standard Formula part of the PRA Rulebook, the PRA may make technical standards on standard deviations in relation to specific national legislative measures of third countries which permit the sharing of claims payments in respect of health risk amongst insurance and reinsurance undertakings and which meet the criteria in paragraph 7.
7. The technical standards referred to in paragraph 6 must apply only to the national legislative measures of third countries which permit the sharing of claims payments in respect of health risk amongst insurance and reinsurance undertakings and which meet the following criteria:
(a) the mechanism for the sharing of claims is transparent and fully specified in advance of the annual period to which it applies;
(b) the mechanism for the sharing of claims, the number of insurance undertakings that participate in the health risk equalisation system (HRES) and the risk characteristics of the business subject to the HRES ensure that for each undertaking participating in the HRES the volatility of annual losses of the business subject to the HRES is significantly reduced by means of the HRES, both in relation to premium and to reserve risk;
(c) health insurance subject to the HRES is compulsory and serves as a partial or complete alternative to health cover provided by the statutory social security system;
(d) in the event of default of insurance undertakings participating in the HRES, one or more Member States' governments guarantee to meet the policy holder claims of the insurance business that is subject to the HRES in full.]
Textual Amendments
F1 Art. 3 substituted (31.12.2020) by The Solvency 2 and Insurance (Amendment, etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/407), regs. 1(2), 11(4) (as amended by S.I. 2019/1390, regs. 1(4), 11(3)(b); S.I. 2020/1385, regs. 1(2), 54(2); and with savings in S.I. 2019/680, reg. 11); 2020 c. 1, Sch. 5 para. 1(1)