§ 23. Mr. PurchaseTo ask the President of the Board of Trade when he proposes to review the Government's solvency margin criteria for insurance companies.
§ Mr. HeseltineThe statutory minimum solvency margins are Community obligations and stem from the first insurance directives of 1973 (non life insurance) and 1979 (life insurance). The European Commission has undertaken to review and report on the need for further harmonisation of the solvency margin by July 1997 at the latest. In practice, DTI normally expects insurance companies to maintain a solvency margin of at least twice the statutory minimum. In supervising insurance companies my Department attaches importance to a wide range of other indicators besides the solvency margin.