On June 8, 2017, the European Commission adopted a Delegated Regulation amending the Solvency II Delegated Regulation ((EU) 2015/35) concerning the calculation of regulatory capital requirements for certain categories of assets held by insurance and reinsurance undertakings (infrastructure corporates) (C(2017)3673 final). An impact assessment and executive summary were published alongside the Delegated Regulation.

The Solvency II Delegated Regulation was amended, with effect from April 2016, to provide for appropriate risk calibrations for qualifying infrastructure projects, but not infrastructure corporates. EIOPA submitted a report to the Commission in June 2016, which set out technical advice on infrastructure corporates and recommended several changes to the previous treatment of infrastructure projects. This included amendments to the definition and qualifying criteria for infrastructure projects to avoid inadvertent exclusion of investments in those projects with a better risk profile.

The amendments to the Delegated Regulation will reduce the capital charges attached to investments by insurance companies in infrastructure companies. The aim is to remove regulatory barriers to investment opportunities in infrastructure that fulfill a number of criteria and are considered to have a better risk profile. The amending Delegated Regulation forms part of the Commission’s wider efforts on capital markets unions (CMUs) to support insurers in their role as long-term investors in the EU economy.

It is now for the Council of the EU and the European Parliament to consider the amending Delegated Regulation. Should neither the Council nor the Parliament object to the amending Delegated Regulation, it will be published in the Official Journal of the EU (OJ). It will enter into force on the date following its publication in the OJ and will apply from that date.