Q&A: Commission Solvency II head Wiedner on closing the deal on Omnibus II

Klaus Wiedner, head of the insurance and pensions unit at the European Commission, has the task of brokering a deal on Omnibus II. As negotiations go down to the wire, he rebuts criticism that too many concessions are being made to the insurance industry on the calibration of the package of measures for long-term guarantee products and lifts the veil on the safeguard clauses added to the text. Hugo Coelho asks him about the last hurdles

After years of setbacks, Solvency II is close to getting back on track. From January 2014, national supervisors are to put pressure on firms to step up their preparatory efforts on Pillar II and Pillar III. Meanwhile, in October, the European Commission proposed a directive to set the formal implementation date in 2016. This was a second so-called quick-fix directive. And the last one, it said.

These developments have gone hand-in-hand with progress in the political discussions over Omnibus II