TITLE IU.K. [X1VALUATION AND RISK-BASED CAPITAL REQUIREMENTS (PILLAR I), ENHANCED GOVERNANCE (PILLAR II) AND INCREASED TRANSPARENCY (PILLAR III)]

CHAPTER IU.K. GENERAL PROVISIONS

SECTION 1 U.K. Definitions and general principles

Article 1U.K.Definitions

For the purposes of this Regulation, the following definitions shall apply:

1.

alternative valuation methods' means valuation methods that are consistent with [F1rules 2.1 and 2.2 of the PRA Rulebook on Valuation], other than those which solely use the quoted market prices for the same or similar assets or liabilities;

2.

‘scenario analysis’ means the analysis of the impact of a combination of adverse events;

3.

‘health insurance obligation’ means an insurance obligation that covers one or both of the following:

(i)

the provision of medical treatment or care including preventive or curative medical treatment or care due to illness, accident, disability or infirmity, or financial compensation for such treatment or care,

(ii)

financial compensation arising from illness, accident, disability or infirmity;

4.

‘medical expense insurance obligation’ means an insurance obligation that covers the provision or financial compensation referred to in point (3)(i);

5.

‘income protection insurance obligation’ means an insurance obligation that covers the financial compensation referred to in point (3)(ii) other than the financial compensation referred to in point (3)(i);

6.

‘workers compensation insurance obligation’ means an insurance obligation that covers the provision or financial compensation referred to in points (3)(i) and (ii) and which arises only from to accidents at work, industrial injury and occupational disease;

7.

‘health reinsurance obligation’ means a reinsurance obligation which arises from accepted reinsurance covering health insurance obligations;

8.

‘medical expense reinsurance obligation’ means a reinsurance obligation which arises from accepted reinsurance covering medical expense insurance obligations;

9.

‘income protection reinsurance obligation’ means a reinsurance obligation which arises from accepted reinsurance covering income protection insurance obligations;

10.

‘workers' compensation reinsurance obligation’ means a reinsurance obligation which arises from accepted reinsurance covering workers' compensation insurance obligations;

11.

‘written premiums’ means the premiums due to an insurance or reinsurance undertaking during a specified time period regardless of whether such premiums relate in whole or in part to insurance or reinsurance cover provided in a different time period;

12.

‘earned premiums’ means the premiums relating to the risk covered by the insurance or reinsurance undertaking during a specified time period;

13.

‘surrender’ means all possible ways to fully or partly terminate a policy, including the following:

(i)

voluntary termination of the policy with or without the payment of a surrender value;

(ii)

change of insurance or reinsurance undertaking by the policy holder;

(iii)

termination of the policy resulting from the policy holder's refusal to pay the premium;

14.

‘discontinuance’ of an insurance policy means surrender, lapse without value, making a contract paid-up, automatic non-forfeiture provisions or exercising other discontinuity options or not exercising continuity options;

15.

‘discontinuity options’ mean all legal or contractual policyholder rights which allow that policyholder to fully or partly terminate, surrender, decrease, restrict or suspend insurance cover or permit the insurance policy to lapse;

16.

‘continuity options’ mean all legal or contractual policyholder rights which allow that policyholder to fully or partly establish, renew, increase, extend or resume insurance or reinsurance cover;

17.

‘coverage of an internal model’ means the risks that are reflected in the probability distribution forecast underlying the internal model;

18.

‘scope of an internal model’ means the risks that the internal model is approved to cover; the scope of an internal model may include both risks which are and which are not reflected in the standard formula for the Solvency Capital Requirement;

18a.

[F2securitisation’ means a transaction or scheme as defined in Article 2(1) of Regulation (EU) 2017/2402 (1) ;

18b.

‘ STS securitisation ’ means

(a)

[F3 a securitisation designated ‘ simple, transparent and standardised ’ or ‘ STS ’ in accordance with the requirements set out in Article 18 of Regulation (EU) 2017/2402][F4; or

(b)

[F5an STS equivalent non-UK securitisation within the meaning of Article 2(A9) of Regulation (EU) 2017/2402 ;][F5an overseas STS securitisation as defined in regulation 12(2) of the Securitisation Regulations 2024;]]

19.

[F4[F6‘ securitisation position ’ means a securitisation position within the meaning of Article 2(19) of Regulation (EU) 2017/2402;]

19a.

[F2senior securitisation position’ means a senior securitisation position within the meaning of Article 242(6) of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (2) ;]

20.

[F6‘ re-securitisation position ’ means an exposure to a re-securitisation within the meaning of Article 2(4) of Regulation (EU) 2017/2402;

21.

‘ originator ’ means an originator within the meaning of Article 2(3) of Regulation (EU) 2017/2402;

22.

‘ sponsor ’ means a sponsor within the meaning of Article 2(5) of Regulation (EU) 2017/2402;

23.

‘ tranche ’ means tranche within the meaning of Article 2(6) of Regulation (EU) 2017/2402;]

24.

‘central bank’ means central bank within the meaning ofArticle 4(1)(46) of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013.

25.

‘basis risk’ means the risk resulting from the situation in which the exposure covered by the risk-mitigation technique does not correspond to the risk exposure of the insurance or reinsurance undertaking;

26.

‘collateral arrangements’ means arrangements under which collateral providers do one of the following:

(a)

transfer full ownership of the collateral to the collateral taker for the purposes of securing or otherwise covering the performance of a relevant obligation;

(b)

provide collateral by way of security in favour of, or to, a collateral taker, and the legal ownership of the collateral remains with the collateral provider or a custodian when the security right is established;

27.

in relation to a set of items, ‘all possible combinations of two’ such items means all ordered pairs of items from that set;

28.

‘pooling arrangement’ means an arrangement whereby several insurance or reinsurance undertakings agree to share identified insurance risks in defined proportions. The parties insured by the members of the pooling arrangement are not themselves members of the pooling arrangement.

29.

‘pool exposure of type A’ means the risk ceded by an insurance or reinsurance undertaking to a pooling arrangement where the insurance or reinsurance undertaking is not a party to that pooling arrangement.

30.

‘pool exposure of type B’ means the risk ceded by an insurance or reinsurance undertaking to another member of a pooling arrangement, where the insurance or reinsurance undertaking is a party to that pooling arrangement;

31.

‘pool exposure of type C’ means the risk ceded by an insurance or reinsurance undertaking which is a party to a pooling arrangement to another insurance or reinsurance undertaking which is not a member of that pooling arrangement.

32.

‘deep market’ means a market where transactions involving a large quantity of financial instruments can take place without significantly affecting the price of the instruments.

33.

‘liquid market’ means a market where financial instruments can readily be converted through an act of buying or selling without causing a significant movement in the price.

34.

‘transparent market’ means a market where current trade and price information is readily available to the public, in particular to the insurance or reinsurance undertakings.

35.

‘future discretionary bonuses’ and ‘future discretionary benefits’ mean future benefits other than index-linked or unit-linked benefits of insurance or reinsurance contracts which have one of the following characteristics:

(a)

they are legally or contractually based on one or more of the following results:

(i)

the performance of a specified group of contracts or a specified type of contract or a single contract;

(ii)

the realised or unrealised investment return on a specified pool of assets held by the insurance or reinsurance undertaking;

(iii)

the profit or loss of the insurance or reinsurance undertaking or fund corresponding to the contract;

(b)

they are based on a declaration of the insurance or reinsurance undertaking and the timing or the amount of the benefits is at its full or partial discretion;

35a.

[F7matching adjustment” has the meaning given in rules made by the PRA under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, as they have effect from time to time;

35b.

assigned portfolio of assets” means the portfolio referred to in regulation 4(3) of the Insurance and Reinsurance Undertakings (Prudential Requirements) Regulations 2023;]

36.

‘basic risk-free interest rate term structure’ means a risk-free interest rate term structure which is derived in the same way as the relevant risk-free interest rate term structure to be used to calculate the best estimate referred to in Article 77(2) of Directive 2009/138/EC but without application of a matching adjustment or a volatility adjustment or a transitional adjustment to the relevant risk-free rate structure in accordance with Article 308c of that Directive;

37.

‘matching adjustment portfolio’ means a portfolio of insurance or reinsurance obligations to which the matching adjustment is applied and the assigned portfolio of assets F8....

38.

‘SLT Health obligations’ means health insurance obligations that are assigned to the lines of business for life insurance obligations in accordance with Article 55(1).

39.

‘NSLT Health obligations’ means health insurance obligations that are assigned to the lines of business for non-life insurance obligations in accordance with Article 55(1).

40.

‘Collective investment undertaking’ means an undertaking for collective investment in transferable securities (UCITS) as defined in Article 1(2) of Directive 2009/65/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council(3) or an alternative investment fund (AIF) as defined in Article 4(1)(a) of Directive 2011/61/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council(4);

41.

in relation to an insurance or reinsurance undertaking, ‘major business unit’ means a defined segment of the insurance and reinsurance undertaking that operates independently from other parts of the undertaking and has dedicated governance resources and procedures within the undertaking and which contains risks that are material in relation to the entire business of the undertaking;

42.

in relation to an insurance or reinsurance group, ‘major business unit’ means a defined segment of the group that operates independently from other parts of the group and has dedicated governance resources and procedures within the group and which contains risks that are material in relation to the entire business of the group; any legal entity belonging to the group is a major business unit or consists of several major business units;

43.

‘administrative, management or supervisory body’ shall mean, where a two-tier board system comprising of a management body and a supervisory body is provided for under national law, the management body or the supervisory body or both of those bodies as specified in the relevant national legislation or, where nobody is specified in the relevant national legislation, the management body;

44.

‘aggregate maximum risk exposure’ means the sum of the maximum payments, including expenses that the special purpose vehicles may incur, excluding expenses that meet all of the following criteria:

(a)

the special purpose vehicle has the right to require the insurance or reinsurance undertaking which has transferred risks to the special purpose vehicle to pay the expense;

(b)

the special purpose vehicle is not required to pay the expense unless and until an amount equal to the expense has been received from the insurance or reinsurance undertaking which has transferred the risks to the special purpose vehicle;

(c)

the insurance or reinsurance undertaking which has transferred risks to the special purpose vehicle does not include the expense as an amount recoverable from the special purpose vehicle in accordance with Article 41 of this Regulation.

45.

‘existing insurance or reinsurance contract’ means an insurance or reinsurance contract for which insurance or reinsurance obligations have been recognised;

46.

‘the expected profit included in future premiums’ means the expected present value of future cash flows which result from the inclusion in technical provisions of premiums relating to existing insurance and reinsurance contracts that are expected to be received in the future, but that may not be received for any reason, other than because the insured event has occurred, regardless of the legal or contractual rights of the policyholder to discontinue the policy.

47.

‘mortgage insurance’ means credit insurance that provides cover to lenders in case their mortgage loans default.

48.

‘subsidiary undertaking’ means any subsidiary undertaking within the meaning of Article 22(1) and (2) of Directive 2013/34/EU, including subsidiaries thereof;

49.

[F9‘related undertaking’ has the meaning given in the Solvency 2 Regulations 2015;]

50.

‘regulated undertaking’ means ‘regulated entity’ within the meaning of [F10regulation 1(2) of the Financial Conglomerates and Other Financial Groups Regulations 2004];

51.

‘non-regulated undertaking’ means any undertaking other than those listed in [F11regulation 1(2) of the Financial Conglomerates and Other Financial Groups Regulations 2004];

52.

‘non-regulated undertaking carrying out financial activities’ means a non-regulated undertaking which carries one or more of the activities referred to in Annex I of Directive 2013/36/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council(5) where those activities constitute a significant part of its overall activity;

53.

‘ancillary services undertaking’ means a non-regulated undertaking the principal activity of which consists of owning or managing property, managing data-processing services, health and care services or any other similar activity which is ancillary to the principal activity of one or more insurance or reinsurance undertakings.

54.

[F12‘UCITS management company’ has the same meaning as given to “management company” in section 237 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000;]

55.

[F12‘alternative investment fund manager’ has the meaning given in regulation 4(1) of the Alternative Investment Managers Regulations 2013;]

55a.

[F13‘ infrastructure assets ’ means physical assets, structures or facilities, systems and networks that provide or support essential public services;

55b.

‘ infrastructure entity ’ means an entity or corporate group which, during the most recent financial year of that entity or group for which figures are available or in a financing proposal, derives the substantial majority of its revenues from owning, financing, developing or operating infrastructure assets;]

56.

[F12‘institutions for occupational retirement provision’ means an institution, irrespective of its legal form, operating on a funded basis, established separately from any sponsoring undertaking or trade for the purpose of providing retirement benefits in the context of an occupational activity on the basis of an agreement or a contract agreed:

(a)

individually or collectively between the employers and the employees or their respective representatives; or

(b)

with self-employed persons, in compliance with United Kingdom legislation;

and which carries out activities directly arising therefrom;]

57.

[F12‘domestic insurance undertaking’ means an undertaking authorised and supervised by third-country supervisory authorities which would require authorisation as an insurance undertaking if its head office were situated in the United Kingdom;]

58.

[F12‘domestic reinsurance undertaking’ means an undertaking authorised and supervised by third-country supervisory authorities which would require authorisation as a reinsurance undertaking if its head office were situated in the United Kingdom;]

58A.

[F14‘PRA’ means the Prudential Regulation Authority;]

58B.

[F12‘insurance undertaking’ means an undertaking which—

(a)

has its head office in the United Kingdom,

(b)

has permission under Part 4A of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 to carry on one or more regulated activities, and

(c)

would require authorisation in accordance with Article 14 of the Solvency 2 Directive if the United Kingdom were a member State;

58C.

‘reinsurance undertaking’ means an undertaking which—

(a)

has its head office in the United Kingdom,

(b)

has permission under Part 4A of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 to carry on one or more regulated activities,

(c)

effects or carries out contracts of insurance that are limited to reinsurance contracts, and

(d)

would require authorisation in accordance with Article 14 of the Solvency 2 Directive if the United Kingdom were a member State;

58D.

‘supervisory authority’ means—

(a)

in relation to insurance or reinsurance undertakings, the PRA; and

(b)

in relation to third-country insurance or reinsurance undertakings, the national authority, or national authorities, empowered to supervise third-country insurance or reinsurance undertakings;

58E.

‘special purpose vehicle’ means any undertaking, whether incorporated or not, other than an existing insurance or reinsurance undertaking, which—

(a)

assumes risks from insurance or reinsurance undertakings (or third country insurance or reinsurance undertakings); and

(b)

fully funds its exposure to such risks through the proceeds of a debt issuance or any other financing mechanism where the repayment rights of the providers of such debt or financing mechanism are subordinated to the reinsurance obligations of such an undertaking;

58F.

in the definition of “aggregate maximum risk exposure” and Chapter XV of Title 1 of this Regulation, reference to an insurance or reinsurance undertaking in connection with—

(a)

the transfer of risk from that undertaking to a special purpose vehicle; or

(b)

the assumption of risk by a special purpose vehicle from the insurance or reinsurance undertaking,

includes a reference to a third country insurance or reinsurance undertaking;]

59.

[F15CCP’ means a CCP as defined in point (1) of Article 2 of Regulation (EU) No 648/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council (6) ;

60.

‘ bankruptcy remote ’ , in relation to client assets, means that effective arrangements exist which ensure that those assets will not be available to the creditors of a CCP or of a clearing member in the event of the insolvency of that CCP or clearing member respectively, or that the assets will not be available to the clearing member to cover losses it incurred following the default of a client or clients other than those that provided those assets;

61.

‘ client ’ means a client as defined in point (15) of Article 2 of Regulation (EU) No 648/2012 or an undertaking that has established indirect clearing arrangements with a clearing member in accordance with Article 4(3) of that Regulation;

62.

‘ clearing member ’ means a clearing member as defined in point (14) of Article 2 of Regulation (EU) No 648/2012;

63.

‘ CCP-related transaction ’ means a contract or a transaction listed in paragraph 1 of Article 301 of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 between a client and a clearing member that is directly related to a contract or a transaction listed in that paragraph between that clearing member and a CCP.]

64.

[F16References in this Regulation to the following Directives, or to provisions of those Directives, are to be read as references to the United Kingdom law which implemented those Directives, or provisions of those Directives, unless stated otherwise:

(a)

Directive 2002/87/EC;

(b)

Directive 2003/41/EC;

(c)

Directive 2005/60/EC;

(d)

Directive 2009/13/EC;

(e)

Directive 2009/65/EC;

(f)

Directive 2009/138/EC;

(g)

Directive 2011/61/EU;

(h)

Directive 2013/36/EU;

(i)

Directive 2014/65/EU.

65.

References in this Regulation to the PRA Rulebook is to the rulebook published by the PRA containing rules made by the PRA under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 as the rulebook has effect on [F1717th August 2022].

66.

References to the United Kingdom law which implemented a Directive, or any provision of a Directive, are, except in Title III, to the law of the United Kingdom which was relied on by the United Kingdom immediately before IP completion day to implement the Directive in question and its implementing measures (if any)—

(a)

as it has effect on [F1817th August 2022], in the case of rules made by the Financial Conduct Authority or by the PRA under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, and

(b)

as amended from time to time, in all other cases.

67.

Any expression in this Regulation which is not defined in this Article—

(a)

which is defined in regulation 2 of the Solvency 2 Regulations 2015 (as amended under the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018) (“ the Solvency 2 Regulations ”) has the meaning given in that regulation;

(b)

which is defined in the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (as so amended) (“FSMA”), but not in the Solvency 2 Regulations, has the meaning given in FSMA;

(c)

which is defined in Directive 2009/138/EC, but not in the Solvency 2 Regulations or in FSMA, has the meaning given in that Directive as it had effect immediately before IP completion day.

68.

‘external credit assessment institution or ‘ECAI’ and ‘nominated ECAI’, have the meaning given in Article 4(98) and (99), respectively, of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2013 on prudential requirements for credit institutions and investment firms and amending Regulation (EU) No 648/2012.]]]

Textual Amendments

(1)

[F2Regulation (EU) 2017/2402 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2017 laying down a general framework for securitisation and creating a specific framework for simple, transparent and standardised securitisation, and amending Directives 2009/65/EC, 2009/138/EC and 2011/61/EU and Regulations (EC) No 1060/2009 and (EU) No 648/2012 ( OJ L 347, 28.12.2017, p. 35 ).]

(2)

[F2Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2013 on prudential requirements for credit institutions and investment firms and amending Regulation (EU) No 648/2012 ( OJ L 176, 27.6.2013, p. 1 ).]

(3)

Directive 2009/65/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 July 2009 on the coordination of laws, regulations and administrative provisions relating to undertakings for collective investment in transferable securities (UCITS)(OJ L 302, 17.11.2009, p. 32).

(4)

Directive 2011/61/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 June 2011 on Alternative Investment Fund Managers and amending Directives 2003/41/EC and 2009/65/EC and Regulations (EC) No 1060/2009 and (EU) No 1095/2010 (OJ L 174, 1.7.2011, p. 1).

(5)

Directive 2013/36/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2013 on access to the activity of credit institutions and the prudential supervision of credit institutions and investment firms, amending Directive 2002/87/EC and repealing Directives 2006/48/EC and 2006/49/EC (OJ L 176, 27.6.2013, p. 338).

(6)

[F15Regulation (EU) No 648/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 July 2012 on OTC derivatives, central counterparties and trade repositories ( OJ L 201, 27.7.2012, p. 1 ).]