Solvency II – what next, now EIOPA has withdrawn T4U?

In November, the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) withdrew its free Pillar 3 reporting software, Tool for Undertakings (T4U). EIOPA gave plenty of warning of its intentions – it announced in July 2016 that it would release its final iteration of the tool in October of that year, then begin decommissioning in July 2017.

Solvency II Pillar 3 reports in XBRL

Despite the advance notice, many small and medium-size insurers have still not found a new solution for generating their Solvency II Pillar 3 reports in XBRL.

T4U has been invaluable for smaller insurance firms with limited resources to generate their reports, as it contained the necessary quantitative reporting templates (QRTs) for Solvency II. However, T4U was complex and difficult to support and while T4U will still function there will be no further updates or support on offer from EIOPA, which has also cited budget restrictions as part of its decision to shut it down.

It is vital for firms to find an alternative solution to generate their XBRL reports under Solvency II regulation, because the regulatory landscape is perpetually evolving and TR4 won’t now provide for such changes. EIOPA itself anticipates introducing at least two scheduled taxonomy updates per year, meaning getting a new solution in place is becoming urgent for firms that have not yet switched in order to avoid operational risk.

EIOPA released the T4U code to developers on an open source platform, allowing many vendors to step into the vacancy left by the decommissioning of T4U during 2017 and introduce their own reporting tools that will be compliant with new Solvency II taxonomies. It has not been easy and firms still needing to switch will find they now have to pay for a commercial solution.

Naturally, cost will be a matter of concern for smaller firms, but many vendors are offering free trials of 30 days or more so we advise trying any commercial tool before making that all-important financial commitment.

Any new software tool should provide all the key features that were present in T4U and at minimum include all of the following:

• A user-friendly interface
• Full incorporation of the XBRL standard’s technical concepts
• Templates for QRTs, including for country-specific requirements
• The ability to generate XBRL reports compliant with EIOPA taxonomies
• The ability to import from and export to MS Excel
• Compliance with version 2.2.0 of Solvency II taxonomy
• Additional compliance with IFRS and CRD IV taxonomies
• An advanced validation mechanism for checking reports across taxonomy requirements
• Stand-alone with maximum data safety
• Ability to store current and past EIOPA taxonomies
• Simultaneous use by multiple staff
• Quick implementation
• Ability to track activities and errors
• Full support from the software vendor’s technical team

Here at DataTracks, our own Solvency II Pillar 3 reporting tool fulfils all the above requirements and allows firms to manage their data securely in the cloud. Importantly, our tool is designed to integrate relevant data from multiple sources and consolidate this into a single view for regulatory reporting. Firms can try our tool free of charge for 15 days, generate test reports and enjoy free customer support in the process.