[12] The non-life sector would also see a material capital release. Some insurers strongly question whether our proposals do in fact loosen the regime overall in this way, and we will need to look at this carefully as the consultation closes. Part of this is about transitional arrangements, which we think we could come to in any discussions about implementation. But another important area of difference appears to be what assumptions should be made about how much longevity risk is re-insured off-shore into other jurisdictions in the future. [13] We have assumed that roughly half of longevity risk is off-shored in this way, consistent with the current stock on the balance sheets of the sector. Some insurers argue that we should assume something much higher, such as 90%. Although this is the current practice for some insurers for new business, in steady state we are not convinced that we should build a regime that bakes in such very high levels of off-shoring across the industry. Baking in such an approach sector-wide could create concentration risks around a few reinsurers and an excessive dependence on other countries’ regimes which are not designed with UK policyholders primarily in mind. Page 9  However, this debate on capital impacts is clearly an important one and we will study carefully the evidence and data which insurers provide in response to the consultation, in order to inform our view. Second, the current structure does not particularly incentivise insurers to invest in the sorts of productive assets the government wishes to encourage.
Stefan Ingves: The Riksbank and monetary policy Speech by Mr Stefan Ingves, Governor of the Sveriges Riksbank, at the School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University, Göteborg, 23 May 2006. *  *  *  Let me begin by thanking you for the invitation. It is always a pleasure to have the opportunity to come and talk about monetary policy and our work at the Riksbank - but I shall refrain from commenting on whether it is always a pleasure for the listeners. I hope that you will in any case get a picture of our view of the economy and inflation prospects and of our method of how we conduct monetary policy. I shall begin with a rough outline of what I intend to discuss in my speech and the main conclusions: First, I shall describe my view of the current monetary policy situation. A brief summary of my conclusions is: •  The upswing in the international economy appears to have been slightly stronger than we envisaged in the February Inflation Report. •  With regard to Sweden, the statistics received since the Inflation Report was published indicate that the economy has developed approximately in line with our assessment, although inflation temporarily rose more rapidly than anticipated as a result of developments in energy prices. •  Our earlier monetary policy considerations from February and April still apply to a large extent. Monetary policy will need to be less expansionary in future.