More than 90% of respondents from all regions believe greater harmonization should be achieved, with opinion being strongest in the UK at 94%, followed by 88% in Bermuda, 82% in continental Europe and 80% in the US.
According to Norton Rose, while the EU has a partially harmonised regime and has tried to address some inconsistencies through the Reinsurance Directive, the draft Solvency II directive and Insurance Mediation Directive, " there are, and following Solvency II there will still remain, major inconsistencies even in the EU."
About one-third of respondents believe that regulators could be doing more to create a level playing field, while more than one in four insurance companies in the US and almost one in five in the UK and Europe said that compliance costs account for more than 10% of their budget. Some 78% of those in Europe expected costs to increase over the next 12 months, although figures for the UK, US and Bermuda are much lower.
More than three-quarters of respondents believe that the industry would prefer a principles-based approach to regulation rather than a rules-based box-ticking approach.