The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) is a

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

financial regulatory institution that replaced the Committee of European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Supervisors (CEIOPS). It is established under EU Regulatio
1094/2010
EIOPA is one of the three European Supervisory Authorities responsible for microprudential oversight at the European Union level, being part of the

European System of Financial Supervision The European System of Financial Supervision (ESFS) is the framework for financial supervision in the European Union that has been in operation since 2011. The system consists of the ''European Supervisory Authorities'' (ESAs), the European Syst ...

. Current chair is Petra Hielkema.

History

CEIOPS (2003–10) was established under the terms of

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body ...

's Decision 2004/6/EC of 5 November 2003, currently repealed and replaced by Decision 2009/79/EC, and is composed of high level representatives from the insurance and occupational pensions supervisory authorities of the European Union's Member States. The authorities of the European Economic Area Member States also participated in CEIOPS. CEIOPS Secretariat was located in Frankfurt am Main. CEIOPS was a Level-3 Committee of the

in the

Lamfalussy process The Lamfalussy process is an approach to the development of financial service industry regulations used by the European Union. Originally developed in March 2001, the process is named after the chair of the EU advisory committee that created it, ...

. CEIOPS was founded 5 November 2003. CEIOPS consisted of the European Union's insurance and pension fund supervisory authorities. Other supervisory authorities from other states of the

European Economic Area The European Economic Area (EEA) was established via the ''Agreement on the European Economic Area'', an international agreement which enables the extension of the European Union's single market to member states of the European Free Trade As ...

are represented as observers (

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and

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, although not Switzerland). It was chaired by

Gabriel Bernardino Gabriel Rodrigo Ribeiro Tavares Bernardino (born 1964) is a Portuguese mathematician who has been serving as the Chairman of the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) from 2011 to 2021. Early life and education Bernardino ...

, the Director General of the Instituto de Seguros de Portugal (ISP). CEIOPS' headquarters were located in

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

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. The other Level-3 Committees were

Committee of European Banking Supervisors The Committee of European Banking Supervisors (CEBS) was an independent advisory group on banking supervision in the European Union (EU). Established by the European Commission in 2004 by Decision 2004/5/EC, and its charter revised on 23 January ...

and

Committee of European Securities Regulators The Committee of European Securities Regulators (CESR) was an independent committee of European Securities regulators in the Lamfalussy process established by the European Commission on June 6, 2001. The role of this committee was to * Improve th ...

. CEIOPS was replaced by EIOPA in January 2011, in accordance with the new European financial supervision framework. The reorganisation of macro and microprudential supervisory authorities led to the creation of three new European watchdogs (The European Banking Authority – EBA, the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority – EIOPA, and the European Securities and Markets Authority -ESMA) have replaced the previous EU committees responsible for financial market services, having had only consultative competences.

Missions and tasks

EIOPA has a legal personality and acts within the powers conferred by the EIOPA Regulation. Westhafen Tower, Frankfurt, Southeast view 20170205 1

Westhafen Tower, Frankfurt, Southeast view 20170205 1

EIOPA acts in the field of activities of insurance undertakings, reinsurance undertakings, financial conglomerates, institutions for occupational retirement provision and insurance intermediaries, in relation to issues not directly covered in the acts referred to in the EIOPA Regulation Article 1.2, including matters of corporate governance, auditing and financial reporting, provided that such actions by the Authority are necessary to ensure the effective and consistent application of those acts. EIOPA's core responsibilities are to support the stability of the financial system, transparency of markets and financial products as well as the protection of insurance policyholders, pension scheme members and beneficiaries. To achieve the tasks above, EIOPA was also conferred the powers to develop draft regulatory technical standards and implementing technical standards, to issue guidelines and recommendations, to take individual decisions addressed to competent authorities or financial institutions in the specific cases, develop common methodologies for assessing the effect of product characteristics and distribution processes, and so on.

Organisation

The composition of EIOPA is similar with that of ESMA, namely a board of supervisors, a management board, a chairperson, an executive director, and a board of appeal. Besides the same tasks shared with ESMA, EIOPA still needs to foster the protection of policyholders, pension scheme members and beneficiaries.

Location

The head office of EIOPA is still in the place of its predecessor, Frankfurt. EIOPA is accountable to the European Parliament and the council, like its two other peers, ESMA and the EBA.

Notes

External links