EIOPA to prepare guidelines on outsourcing to cloud service providers

As part of its response to the European Commission’s FinTech Action Plan, EIOPA has published a report setting out: a summary of the current NSA work on cloud computing, an analysis of the current EU (re)insurance regulatory framework, and confirmation that it will prepare guidance for (re)insurance undertakings on cloud outsourcing. This guidance will be closely aligned with the recent EBA guidelines on this issue.

EIOPA will now consult stakeholders on bespoke cloud computing outsourcing guidelines and EIOPA will aim to publish draft guidelines for consultation by the end of H1 2019, and the finalised guidelines by the end of 2019.  It will also conduct a joint monitoring exercise alongside the EBA and ESMA in the second half of 2019

Although outsourcing to cloud computing in the (re)insurance sector is at present relatively limited to newcomers, market niches and non-critical functions, EIOPA notes that businesses across the sector plan to significantly increase migrations to the cloud.