Escape from Solvency II - insurers consider the offshore option

Many UK insurers faced with growing regulatory pressure are seeking a move offshore to escape the forthcoming Solvency II regulations and the high capital charges they bring. But do lower capital charges equal lower standards for consumers? Blake Evans-Pritchard reports

The past couple of years of financial uncertainty, with a number of established banking and insurance giants falling from grace, has provoked a backlash against the insurance industry, which now faces tough demands to be better prepared for future crises.

Such an aggressive positioning by regulators, who are under pressure to protect consumer interests, has inevitably fed into the Solvency II debate, with industry bodies sounding alarm bells that the latest calibration of the standard formula