Regulator Covid-19 update 23 April

On 23 April:

• PRA followed up on its letter to insurers, noting that all insurers should consider carefully the previous letter and guidance on use of unrated assets and assessments of creditworthiness, and the application beyond insurers that use IFRS 9. PRA stresses that insurers’ assessments of covenant breaches take into account the differences between “normal” breaches and those that might occur directly because of Covid-19;
• EBA published further guidance on how regulators should be flexible in relation to the pandemic and called for supervisors to pay special attention to the market risk created by the outbreak. In particular, it plans to introduce a 66% aggregation factor under the core approach, to be applied until the end of the year. It also wants supervisors to focus on which recovery options are necessary and available under the stressed circumstances, and stresses the importance of digital operational resilience; and
• FCA has updated its webpage on fund reporting to include extensions of AIFM reporting deadlines