1.For the purposes of Article 171a(1), point (b), the insurance or reinsurance undertaking shall be able to demonstrate to the satisfaction of the supervisory authority all of the following:
the undertaking complies with its risk tolerance limits;
the undertaking’s solvency capital requirement, assessed without the use of any of the transitional measures referred to in Article 77a(2), Article 308c, Article 308d, or where relevant, Article 111(1), second subparagraph, of Directive 2009/138/EC, is exceeded by an appropriate margin, taking into account the solvency position of the undertaking including the undertaking’s medium-term capital management plan;
based on projections over a five-year time horizon, the undertaking is able to generate cash inflows that are higher than cash outflows, both on an ongoing basis and under stressed conditions during each of the next five financial calendar years (forced selling test) over the time horizon of the test.
2.For the forced selling test referred to in paragraph 1, point (c), all of the following shall apply:
when assessing cash inflows and outflows on an ongoing basis, insurance and reinsurance undertakings shall assume that the situation in financial markets over the time horizon of the test remains the same as the one at the reference date of the test;
when assessing cash inflows and outflows under stressed conditions, insurance and reinsurance undertakings shall apply the stress assumptions set out in paragraph 5 and shall not be required to take into account additional secondary or market-wide effects;
when assessing cash inflows and outflows both on an ongoing basis and under stressed conditions, the projected decisions of investment or divestments by the insurance or reinsurance undertaking shall be consistent with the business strategy of the undertaking, its written policies on investment, liquidity and asset-liability management, and the future management actions referred to in Article 23.
3.For the forced selling test referred to in paragraph 1, point (c), the cash inflows shall only include the value of cash and cash equivalents on the reference date and inflows from the following sources over the time horizon of the projections:
revenues stemming from the sale of the following assets, held either directly or through a collective investment undertaking or other investment packaged as funds in which the undertaking holds units or shares:
assets representing claims on one of the counterparties referred to in Article 180(2);
assets that are fully, unconditionally and irrevocably guaranteed by one of the counterparties referred to in Article 180(2), where the guarantee meets the requirements set out in Article 215;
bonds and loans which have been assigned to credit quality step 0, 1, 2 or 3, excluding bonds and loans issued by insurance and reinsurance undertakings or financial sector entities within the meaning of Article 4, point (27), of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013;
covered bonds referred to in Article 180(1) which have been assigned to credit quality step 0 or 1, excluding those which are issued by a financial sector entity which is part of the same group;
STS securitisation which either has been assigned a credit assessment of credit quality step 0 or 1 by a nominated ECAI, or which is a senior tranche, and which is not originated by entities belonging to the same group as the insurance or reinsurance undertaking;
equities, other than long-term equity investments or strategic equities, and other than investments in financial sector entities, which are either listed in regulated markets in the countries which are members of the EEA or the OECD, or traded on multilateral trading facilities, as referred to in Article 4(1), point (22), of Directive 2014/65/EU, whose registered office or head office is in EU Member States;
revenues at maturity date stemming from dated assets referred to in point (a), and regular revenues stemming from assets referred to in that point and from property investments and long-term equity investments, including prudently estimated future non-contractual revenues such as dividend payments, provided that the projected non-contractual revenues for a given year are not higher than their three-year historical average;
premiums and other cash inflows included in the contract boundary of the best estimate of life technical provisions, prudently estimated life premiums and other cash inflows to be earned by the undertaking over the time horizon of the test not included in the contract boundary, provided that such prudently estimated premiums and other cash inflows during a given year are never assumed to be higher than their three-year historical average, or, where there is less than three years of available data, they are not assumed to be higher than those of the most recent year, as well as cash inflows from accepted reinsurance of life obligations;
premiums and other cash inflows included in the contract boundary of the best estimate of non-life technical provisions, prudently estimated non-life premiums and other cash inflows to be earned by the undertaking over the time horizon of the test not included in the contract boundary, provided that such prudently estimated premiums and other cash inflows during a given year are not assumed to be higher than their three-year historical average or, where there is less than three years of available data, they are not assumed to be higher than those of the most recent year, as well as cash inflows from accepted reinsurance of non-life obligations;
revenues stemming from the reinvestment of the cash inflows listed in points (a) to (d) in excess of the cash outflows referred to in paragraph 4, where the return on investment is derived from the risk-free interest rate term structure, taking into account the volatility adjustment.
The assets referred to in the first subparagraph, point (a), held through an investment vehicle over which the insurance or reinsurance undertaking exercises control, or, to the extent of the rights of the undertaking, through an investment vehicle over which another entity within the same group exercises control and in which the undertaking holds units or shares, may be fully taken into account. The assets referred to in the first subparagraph, point (a), held through collective investment undertakings or through other investments packaged as funds, other than those referred to in the preceding sentence, may be taken into account up to an absolute amount of EUR 500 million.
Insurance and reinsurance undertakings may decide not to take into account cash inflows referred to in the first subparagraph, point (b) or (e).
For estimating the cash inflows referred to in the first subparagraph, points (c) and (d), which are not included in the contract boundary, the insurance or reinsurance undertaking shall be able to demonstrate to the satisfaction of the supervisory authority that plausible negative outlooks with regard to historical data are appropriately taken into account.
For the purposes of the first subparagraph, point (a), insurance and reinsurance undertakings shall not take into account assets covering the best estimate of insurance obligations to which the matching adjustment is applied.
When assuming revenues stemming from the sale of bonds, loans and securitisations covering the best estimate of insurance obligations to which the volatility adjustment is applied over the time horizon of the test, the undertaking shall be able to demonstrate to the satisfaction of the supervisory authority that its risk profile does not deviate significantly from the following assumptions underlying the volatility adjustment, even as a result of such sales, including under stressed conditions:
the undertaking holds assets that are spread-sensitive, and is exposed to changes in credit spreads;
the application of the volatility adjustment does not result in situations where the impact of an exaggeration of credit spreads on the assets held by the undertaking is overcompensated by the impact of the volatility adjustment on the best estimate of technical provisions;
the cash flows arising from insurance liabilities of the undertaking to which the volatility adjustment is applied are sufficiently stable and predictable to ensure that the undertaking is not exposed to the risk of forced sale of its assets that are spread-sensitive, and can instead hold on to such assets, including during market turmoil.
4.For the forced selling test referred to in paragraph 1, point (c), the cash outflows shall include all of the following:
cash outflows related to claims, surrenders, other technical outflows including operating expenses, and taxes, within the contract boundary of the best estimate of life technical provisions, cash outflows corresponding to obligations related to the life premiums which are not included in the contract boundary referred to in paragraph 3, first subparagraph, point (c), as well as cash outflows from accepted reinsurance of life obligations;
cash outflows related to claims, surrenders, other technical outflows including operating expenses, taxes, within the contract boundary of the best estimate of non-life technical provisions, cash outflows corresponding to obligations related to the non-life premiums which are not included in the contract boundary referred to in paragraph 3, first subparagraph, point (d), as well as cash outflows from accepted reinsurance of non-life obligations;
cash outflows arising from repurchase agreements, reverse repurchase agreements and similar arrangements, margin requirements, and other financial outflows;
cash outflows arising from pension scheme contributions related to the employees of the insurance or reinsurance undertaking;
cash outflows arising from other expenses that are not included in the calculation of the best estimate of technical provisions, and other cash outflows, including all of the following:
dividend distributions and other payments to shareholders and other subordinated creditors;
share buy-backs and repayment or redemption of own fund items;
other cash outflows, including intragroup ones, not captured by previous points, including contingent liabilities, bonuses and other variable remuneration and off-balance sheet commitments.
5.For the forced selling test under stressed conditions referred to in paragraph 1, point (c), the insurance or reinsurance undertaking shall assume to be subject to the following stresses:
during the first financial year of the projections, there is an additional cash outflow equal to the aggregation of capital requirements stemming from the risk modules referred to in Chapter V of Title I, net of the adjustment for the loss-absorbing capacity of technical provisions and deferred taxes referred to in Article 205, where the aggregation is based on the correlation parameters set out in Annex IV to Directive 2009/138/EC;
during each of the following four financial years of the projections, there is an additional cash outflow equal to the aggregation of capital requirements stemming from the risk modules referred to in Chapter V of Title I, net of the adjustment for the loss-absorbing capacity of technical provisions and deferred taxes referred to in Article 205, without taking into account the submodules referred to in the second subparagraph of this paragraph, where the aggregation is based on the correlation parameters set out in Annex IV to Directive 2009/138/EC.
The submodules referred to in the first subparagraph, point (b), shall be the following:
the sum of capital requirements for non-life, life and health catastrophe risks, calculated in accordance with Articles 119, 143 and 160 respectively;
the sum of capital requirements for non-life, life, NSLT health and SLT health lapse risks, calculated in accordance with Articles 118, 142, 150 and 159 respectively.
For the purposes of the first subparagraph, point (b), the following assumptions shall apply:
capital requirements for market risk and counterparty default risk modules decrease each year of the test, the percentage of reduction for a given year is equal to the decrease in the total projected value of the assets held by the insurance or reinsurance undertaking at the end of the previous year.
in relation to the non-life premium and reserve risk sub-module referred to in Article 115, cash outflows referred to in paragraph 4, point (b), shall be estimated by increasing the relevant cash outflows in each segment s set out in Annex II as follows:
the cash outflows occurring during the first year following the date when the insurance or reinsurance cover begins or is renewed shall be increased by a percentage that is equal to the standard deviations for non-life premium risk of the segments s as set out in Annex II multiplied by three;
the cash outflows occurring after the first year following the date when the insurance or reinsurance cover begins or is renewed shall be increased by a percentage that is equal to the standard deviation for non-life reserve risk of the segments s as set out in Annex II multiplied by three;
in relation to the NSLT health premium and reserve risk sub-module referred to in Article 146, cash outflows referred to in paragraph 4, point (b), shall be estimated by increasing the relevant cash outflows in each segment s set out in Annex XIV as follows:
the cash outflows occurring during the first year following the date when the insurance or reinsurance cover begins or is renewed shall be increased by a percentage that is equal to the standard deviation for NSLT health premium risk of the segment s as set out in Annex XIV multiplied by three;
the cash outflows occurring after the first year following the date when the insurance or reinsurance cover begins or is renewed shall be increased by a percentage that is equal to the standard deviation for NSLT health reserve risk of the segment s as set out in Annex XIV multiplied by three.
6.For the forced selling test under stressed conditions referred to in paragraph 1, point (c), the insurance or reinsurance undertaking shall make the following additional assumptions regarding certain cash flows:
over the time horizon of the test, the stressed values of cash flows referred to in paragraph 3, first subparagraph, point (c), and paragraph 4, point (a), shall be consistent with the scenario of the life lapse risk sub-module referred to in Article 142 and, as applicable, the SLT health lapse risk sub-module referred to in Article 159;
over the time horizon of the test, the stressed values of cash flows referred to in paragraph 3, first subparagraph, point (d), and paragraph 4, point (b), shall be consistent with the scenario of the non-life lapse risk sub-module referred to in Article 118 and, as applicable, the NSLT health lapse risk sub-module referred to in Article 150;
the stressed values of cash outflows referred to in paragraph 4, points (c), (d) and (e) shall be consistent with paragraph 2, point (c), and with past distribution practices by insurance and reinsurances undertakings, in particular in stressed market environments; in addition, the insurance and reinsurance undertaking shall assume that the contingent liabilities and off-balance sheet commitments referred in paragraph 4, point (e)(iii), are triggered;
for determining reinvestment revenues referred to in paragraph 3, first subparagraph, point (e), the term structure of interest rate shall be assumed to change in accordance with the scenario underlying the calculation of the interest rate risk submodule included in the calculation of the cash outflow referred to in paragraph 5.