As UK insurers prepare to report using the new Solvency UK (SUK) templates this year, we provide a short guide to the templates and how they match up to the Solvency II QRT public disclosures
Differences between Solvency II and Solvency UK disclosures
The PRA has attempted to minimise the reporting burden for UK insurers by keeping as close as possible to the Solvency II QRT templates. This is true for both the full (private) set of QRTs and the public disclosures. This article focuses only on the SUK public disclosure templates.
Types of changes in the UK insurance reporting templates
Solvency UK templates are named with an ‘IR’ prefix (Insurance Reporting) instead of the ‘S’ prefix used in Solvency II.
Broadly speaking the changes between the Solvency II and Solvency UK templates can be divided into four categories.
Clones: These are templates that are unchanged between the two regimes. They match both interms of the item names and row and column number. The only difference is the change in prefix.
For example: S.28.01.02 = IR.28.01.02.
Near identical: These are essentially Solvency II templates that have had some rows or columns added or deleted. The names, column and row numbers are identical. The new cells do not affect existing Solvency II template numbering.
For example, in the balance sheet template S.02.01.02 (SUK IR.02.01.02) the PRA has added a separate line for ‘Life and health similar to life, excluding index-linked and unit-linked’ to the ‘Reinsurance recoverables from:’ section. The row number R0315, slots in between row R0280 ‘Non-life and health similar to non-life’ and row R0340 ‘Life index-linked and unit-linked’ (rows R0290 through R0330 have been removed).
Different: These are templates that contain the same or similar information to the Solvency II template, but while they share many identical datapoints either the definition or the row and column numbers are different.
For example, in Solvency II template S.12.01.02 the ‘Insurance with profit participation’ is in column C0020, while in IR.12.01.02, which has been substantially reduced, it is in column C0010.
‘New’: These are templates that have an equivalent in Solvency II but have been changed significantly.
For example, SUK template IR.25.04 replaces the Solvency II SCR calculation templates S.25.01, S.25.02 & S.25.03, for standard formula, partial and full internal model firms, respectively.
The template also slots in neatly between the latter three and the Solvency II template S.25.05 (for partial and full internal model firms), which was introduced in the changes to the Solvency II QRTs in 2023.
Comparing Solvency II and Solvency UK internal models
SUK template IR.25.04 introduces for the first time consistent and structured SCR component data for both standard and (partial) internal model firms in the public disclosures. These include details such as equity, currency and property risk (similar to the breakdown provided in the private S.26 templates).
The data can be matched with historic and non-UK data using the Solvency II Wire Data Comparator Tool, which maps (partial) internal model SCR components to the standard formula.
Full details of the Solvency UK template changes and their relation to the Solvency II public QRTs are available for subscribers of the Solvency II Wire Data service. To request a demo or discuss the content of this article click here.
