The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority’s (EIOPA) technical advice to the European Commission on the IORP II Directive offers “targeted advice” and not a “revolution”, which is a positive, The European Association of Paritarian Institutions (AEIP) executive director, Simone Miotto, has said.

Speaking at the CBBA-Europe Annual Conference last Wednesday, 15 November, Miotto gave his views on the IORP II Directive and EIOPA’s technical advice on the directive, which it provided to the European Commission.

“It is really good that EIOPA is not suggesting a revolution on this IORP III, or whatever it will be called, but targeted adjustments,” he stated.

“I think this is important because the main characteristics of the IORP II Directive will remain, starting from the fact that it is a directive not a regulation, which is something maybe unique within the field of financial regulation. The main harmonisation character of the directive will be maintained, and this is very good.”

However, he said that as there has been a delay in implementation by some countries, experience with parts of the directive is limited, which may mean it is too early to review certain aspects.

“The feeling I get is that on some parts of the directive, there is still not so much experience on the implementation of the new rules…. [EIOPA’s review] was very comprehensive technical advice but, in some ways, it reflects the considerations I just made because there are a lot of figures but not so much evaluation.

"It is not always the case, for instance, I saw a clear conclusion on the cross-border activity of IORPs but on others, such as the new governance rules, maybe it is still a bit early to evaluate what works and what has not,” Miotto explained.

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