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European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority

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European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority

Westhafen Tower in Frankfurt, seat of EIOPA since 2011
Agency overview
Formed1 January 2011 (2011-01-01)
Preceding agency
  • Committee of Insurance and Occupational Pensions Regulators (CEIOPS)
JurisdictionEuropean Union
HeadquartersFrankfurt am Main
Agency executive
  • Petra Hielkema[1], Chair
Key document
Websiteeiopa.europa.eu

The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) is a European Union financial regulatory agency. It was established in 2011 under EU Regulation 1094/2010.

EIOPA is one of the three European Supervisory Authorities responsible for microprudential oversight at the European Union level within the European System of Financial Supervision, together with the European Banking Authority (EBA) and European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA).

Background

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The initial precursor of EIOPA was the Conference of the Insurance Supervisory Services of European Community Countries (French: conférence des services de contrôle des assurances), established in 1957 and thus predating both the Groupe de Contact for banking supervisors (1972) and the Chairs' informal group for securities commissions (1989).[2]: 278 

The Committee of European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Supervisors (CEIOPS), a Level-3 Committee of the European Union under the Lamfalussy process, was established in 2004 under the terms of European Commission's Decision 2004/6/EC of 5 November 2003, later repealed and replaced by Decision 2009/79/EC. It was composed of high level representatives from the insurance and occupational pensions supervisory authorities of the European Union's Member States. The authorities of the European Economic Area Member States also participated in CEIOPS. CEIOPS Secretariat was located in Frankfurt. It was chaired by Gabriel Bernardino, the Director General of the Portuguese insurance supervisor. The other Level-3 Committees were Committee of European Banking Supervisors and Committee of European Securities Regulators.

CEIOPS was replaced by EIOPA on 1 January 2011,[3] in accordance with the new European financial supervision framework. The reorganisation of macro and microprudential supervisory authorities led to the creation of three new European watchdogs (The European Banking Authority – EBA, the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority – EIOPA, and the European Securities and Markets Authority -ESMA) have replaced the previous EU committees responsible for financial market services, having had only consultative competences.

Missions and tasks

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EIOPA has a legal personality and acts within the powers conferred by the EIOPA Regulation.[4]

EIOPA acts in the field of activities of insurance undertakings, reinsurance undertakings, financial conglomerates, institutions for occupational retirement provision and insurance intermediaries, in relation to issues not directly covered in the acts referred to in the EIOPA Regulation Article 1.2, including matters of corporate governance, auditing and financial reporting, provided that such actions by the Authority are necessary to ensure the effective and consistent application of those acts.

EIOPA's core responsibilities are to support the stability of the financial system, transparency of markets and financial products as well as the protection of insurance policyholders, pension scheme members and beneficiaries.

To achieve the tasks above, EIOPA was also conferred the powers to develop draft regulatory technical standards and implementing technical standards, to issue guidelines and recommendations, to take individual decisions addressed to competent authorities or financial institutions in the specific cases, develop common methodologies for assessing the effect of product characteristics and distribution processes, and so on.

Organisation

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The composition of EIOPA is similar with that of ESMA, namely a board of supervisors, a management board, a chairperson, an executive director, and a board of appeal. Besides the same tasks shared with ESMA, EIOPA still needs to foster the protection of policyholders, pension scheme members and beneficiaries.

Location

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The head office of EIOPA is still in the place of its predecessor, Frankfurt. EIOPA is accountable to the European Parliament and the council, like its two other peers, ESMA and the EBA.

Board of Supervisors

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The voting members of the EIOPA Board of Supervisors are representatives from the national competent authorities of EU member states, plus since reform in 2019 the EIOPA Chair.

Additional authorities represented in the Board of Supervisors as of 2024, but without voting rights, include:[5]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ "Management Board". 11 April 2019. Archived from the original on 6 October 2021. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
  2. ^ Emmanuel Mourlon-Druol (2020), "Adjusting an institutional framework to a globalising world: the creation of new institutions in the EEC, 1957-1992", Journal of Economic Policy Reform (23:3): 273–289
  3. ^ "European supervisory authorities: time for implementation!". europeansforfinancialreform.org.
  4. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 May 2017. Retrieved 9 July 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. ^ "Board of Supervisors". EIOPA.
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