EU Insurers Call for 'More Ambitious' Competitiveness Agenda from Brussels as Industry Presses for Regulatory Reform
European insurance industry bodies have called on EU institutions to adopt a more ambitious competitiveness agenda, pushing for regulatory reforms that would strengthen the sector's ability to deploy capital and compete on a global basis. The call, reported by Law360 on 27 May 2026, reflects growing industry frustration that the regulatory burden on EU insurers — particularly in the areas of capital requirements and investment restrictions — is constraining their capacity to support long-term investment in infrastructure and growth assets. The intervention sits within a broader EU-level debate about the competitiveness of European financial services, which has intensified following the publication of the Draghi report on European competitiveness. Insurers are pushing for changes that would allow them to allocate more capital to private equity, infrastructure debt, and other long-duration assets without incurring disproportionate capital charges under the Solvency II framework — the EU's existing insurance capital adequacy regime. The industry's position is that current rules create structural disadvantages relative to US and Asian insurers, which operate under less restrictive capital frameworks. EU policymakers are in the middle of a review process that could result in targeted adjustments to investment rules, with particular focus on whether the capital treatment of long-term infrastructure and private market assets adequately reflects their risk profiles. No specific named legislation beyond Solvency II has been identified in the available source text, and no legal advisers are named.
Why this matters
Insurance regulatory reform at the EU level — particularly any relaxation of Solvency II capital treatment for private market assets — would have direct consequences for the capital deployment strategies of major European insurers and reinsurers. If insurers can allocate more capital to infrastructure debt and private credit, it creates a new class of institutional lender in markets where banks and direct lenders currently dominate. For financial regulation and insurance practices, this is a live consultation and advocacy environment: clients need advice on responding to regulatory proposals, assessing the impact of any rule changes on their investment strategies, and structuring new products to fit within evolving capital frameworks. The 'why now' trigger is the EU's post-Draghi focus on redirecting long-term institutional capital toward European growth assets.
On the Ground
A trainee supporting an insurance regulatory matter of this type would assist with drafting regulatory notification responses to EU consultation documents and preparing compliance gap analysis memos comparing a client's existing investment portfolio against the proposed capital treatment changes. They might also update remediation tracker documents as rule changes progress through the legislative process.
Interview prep
Question you might get
“What is Solvency II, and how does its capital treatment of long-term assets affect the ability of European insurers to invest in infrastructure debt or private equity funds?”
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