The impact of solvency assessment and management on the short-term insurance industry in South Africa

Abstract

The financial stability of the insurers is important to fulfil its role as a risk transfer mechanism and to protect the purchasers of their products. The European Union is introducing the Solvency II to modernise the current Solvency I regime and to harmonise the different insurance legislation of the members of the European Union. Solvency II introduces an architecture consisting of three pillars, with Pillar I setting the solvency capital requirements, Pillar II the governance and risk management requirements and Pillar III the reporting requirements. The South African Regulator initiated Solvency Assessment and Management for implementation in 2016 to align the South African prudential regulatory framework to meet the Solvency II requirements for third country equivalence. The problem that this study addressed is the possible effect that the introduction of Solvency Assessment and Management may have on the sustainability of short-term insurers in South Africa. The results of a empirical component of the study indicated that small and medium short-term insurers may be negatively impacted due to the costs incurred to implement and comply with the requirements of the new regulatory framework. The effect on the South African short-term industry can be that cover is concentrated among a few large short-term insurers.