Risk Disclosure in the European Insurance Industry: Implications for Occupational Pension Funds

Risk disclosure in the European insurance industry will be profoundly influenced by Solvency II rules seeking to improve transparency in the insurance sector. Attempts to extend this reform to occupational pension funds face considerable difficulties. This chapter describes the recent European Union reforms in prudential regulation for insurance undertakings and occupational pension funds. We compare both sectors and describe how differences between both types of institutions might justify differences in risk disclosure. We conclude that, because of the growing importance of defined contribution (DC) pension schemes, risk disclosure is important for both DC and defined benefit (DB) schemes.