sam woods : brave new world speech by mr sam woods, deputy governor for prudential regulation of the bank of england and chief executive of the prudential regulation authority ( pra ), at the association of british insurers, 16 march 2021. * * * thank you for the invitation to speak today, and for coming along to this session. although i can see nobody on my screen the abi assures me that an implausibly large number of leaders of the insurance industry are in fact present, and that some of you may even be listening to this speech. as a prudential regulator we oversee a large and vibrant insurance sector supplying vital financial services to the wider economy. i will not bore you with another list of the magnificent variety, size and importance of those services – that is the job of the abi. but safeguarding the stability of their supply is the whole point of our role. that role is about to change in two ways. first, the solvency ii review is well under way – i will come back to that. but i want to begin with the second change, which is more fundamental – the proposed reforms to the architecture of financial regulation as we enter the brave new world of post - brexit britain – and explain why we favour a shift towards more rule - making by the regulator, and the enhanced accountability that needs to come with that. the future regulatory framework : rules and statutes now you may be thinking : “ quelle surprise, the regulator wants to have more control over the rules! ” in fact, i can tell you that the pra has no pro - active desire to increase its responsibilities. we have enough on our plate already. it ’ s just that it seems clear that, for our market, putting the details in the regulator ’ s rules rather than in statute ( as the eu typically does ) is a better approach. i say better for our market, but in fact this is the norm in all major jurisdictions apart from the eu and switzerland. as a point of principle, it is consistent with the established model of an independent regulator taking time - consistent decisions in pursuit of long - term objectives given to it by parliament. this follows the same logic as the arrangements in this country and many others for setting monetary policy. and on a purely practical level, it ensures that rule - making is closely informed by the day - to - day risk assessments that we have to make as supervisors. this approach also helps ensure that rule -

paul fisher : pra solvency ii conference – countdown to implementation speech by mr paul fisher, executive director for insurance supervision of the bank of england and deputy head of the prudential regulation authority ( pra ), at the pra solvency ii conference, london, 17 october 2014. * * * good morning and thank you for coming today. first let me introduce myself. i have been both an academic and a long - term central banker – 24 years and counting at the bank of england. i have worked across the bank as a specialist economist / forecaster, private secretary to eddie george, head of foreign exchange and then markets director, i have served 5 years on the mpc, 2 years on the interim fpc and am now pledged to the pra board. insurance is not an entirely new sector to me. for many years i have been speaking with the asset management arms of many insurance firms about your businesses, in edinburgh as well as london. one of our strategic aims is to deliver supervision as one bank and one of my personal objectives is to maximise the synergies of insurance supervision operating as part of the bank of england. there is a lot to be gained by us and the industry if we can do that. but since taking over from julian adams as executive director for insurance, one thing has been very, very clear. right now, solvency ii is the main game in town. yes, there are new and continuing challenges to business models across the whole of the insurance sector, whether from changes to government regulations affecting annuity businesses, through the advent of new capital, particularly in re - insurance, to challenges from overseas insurers. those challenges are short, medium and long - term and very considerable. we can ’ t – and won ’ t – take our eyes off those challenges to the industry. but solvency ii is a train of the future speeding down the track towards us – for both regulators and firms the message is : be on board or get left behind. so it is a key priority for us, working with you, to get implementation right and on time. the clocks are counting down. we are now at a pivotal moment for solvency ii preparations. solvency ii will bring about the most significant change to the industry in decades. following years of negotiation and delays, we are finally at a point where the end is in sight and the regime is to become a reality. with the majority of the legislation now finalised, the pr