The risks this can cause will need to be monitored closely, since a solvency balance sheet focusing largely on market values as per Solvency II can produce a more volatile picture of insurers’ resilience. This can have repercussions for insurers’ investment policy.
About 25 percent of financial holding companies have used their new insurance powers, largely through acquisitions of insurance agency or brokerage firms or, in a few instances, of insurance underwriters. Only a few financial holding companies have expanded their insurance activities in any significant way.