Seamless data flow between insurance systems and Solvency II reporting tools helps ease supervisory reporting processes.

Solvency II has placed a heavy burden on insurance companies as it has introduced stricter reporting demands than previously seen in the industry. Data needs to be collected from various data sources and combined in a centralised place. Calculations must be run, and reports must be filled out in the required format – all in a process that needs to be repeated periodically and monitored closely.

THE CHALLENGES OF SOLVENCY II REPORTING

Solvency II compliance has become an essential task for any insurance company. Ongoing compliance data management is critical to align with the new regulation. It is a task riddled with challenges. The data requirements for Solvency II reporting are much more complex than what insurers previously compiled for internal use.

For instance, many insurers have important data scattered across various documents, spreadsheets and emails, making the task of searching for and aggregating the necessary data painstakingly difficult and time-consuming. Another example is fund-look through, which is important both for reporting purposes and for the correct calculation of the SCR for market risk. It is one of the most challenging tasks insurers must do to meet Solvency II requirements, particularly for those with complex fund investments.

Read also: From Pain to Gain: Making Solvency II Reporting Easy and Valuable

INTEGRATING INSURANCE SOFTWARE WITH SOLVENCY II REPORTING TOOLS

Simple Excel spreadsheets have proved to be adequate policy administration tools for smaller insurance agencies up until today. However, facing Solvency II reporting requirements, data gathering, validation and report production are often challenging. Resolving data quality issues often leads to an extremely time-consuming operation.

To combat this, insurers increasingly need a tool which draws reporting data from the information routinely processed in the normal course of business. A dedicated solution to meet Solvency II’s complex requirements is essential.

The market for packaged software solutions capable of supporting multiple business functions and regulatory reporting requirements has matured. Several service providers offer insurance systems with built-in Solvency II reporting capabilities – with low cost, simple implementation and minimal maintenance. Integrating these systems with dedicated tools for Solvency II reporting, unlocks far more efficient reporting capabilities.

Several IT and software suppliers have developed the necessary tools to perform seamless Solvency II reporting. Escali Financial Systems is one such provider. Their Escali Supervision system is one of the most efficient solutions helping insurers ease their Solvency II reporting pains.

INTRODUCING ESCALI SUPERVISION

Founded in 1996, Escali Financial Systems is one of the leading suppliers of financial software in the Nordic region, providing solutions for financial risk analysis and reporting, data management, investment portfolio management and, of course, supervisory reporting.

Escali Supervision assists pension and insurance companies with supervisory reporting, aiming to make the reporting process as efficient as possible. Through a user-friendly interface it efficiently performs the following tasks:

• Data collection and validation
• Workflow management
• QRT report production
• XBRL report production

Escali Supervision focuses on simplicity and efficiency and can be integrated with existing systems providing flexible import options in a simple, reliable and efficient solution. Its data import routines are streamlined and provide the user with data validation on import. It automatically maps accounts data to the Solvency II balance sheet and provides tools to reconcile data from different sources.

SOFTWARE HOUSE PARTNERSHIPS FOR PACKAGED SOLUTIONS

The benefits of integrating insurance systems with Solvency II reporting tools make it beneficial for software houses to partner up for added-value services for their customers. Acknowledging this opportunity, we in Noria has partnered up with Escali to help insurers ease the Solvency II reporting process. Together, we provide a cloud-based full-stack service, providing seamless integration between insurance systems and reporting tools and delivering Escali's products as part of Noria's SaaS offering.

We in Noria believe that our carefully selected partnerships will provide greater value to our customers and we have chosen to work with Escali because they have proven their competence and that their solutions are both solid and cover the needs of the insurers we work with.

Several insurance companies are already leveraging the opportunities inherent in integrating insurance software with Solvency II reporting tools. For instance, The Norwegian Shipowner’s Mutual War Risk Insurance Association (DNK), Oslo Pensjonsforsikring and Møretrygd all rely on Noria’s policy and reinsurance system PARIS to update data in real time, which allows Solvency II reports to be generated at the push of a button and export it to Escali Supervision for completion of the Solvency II reports. Escali also provides software for performing SCR calculations and their portfolio management system enables market risk calculations with full fund look-through – a full-stack service of insurance software for Solvency II.

Integrating your insurance system with your Solvency II reporting tools provides you with a well-structured, coherent and comprehensive data storage and reporting solution that undoubtedly will ease any Solvency II reporting effort.

Noria will continue to introduce our customers to new partnerships that we believe will provide great value, and next up is a partner within big data and analytics.