Certified Solvency ii Professional (CSiiP), distance learning and online certification program.

Overview

Solvency II knowledge is one of the main factors that make managers and employees indispensable for Financial Conglomerates (FC), Financial Holding Companies (FHC), Mixed Financial Holding Companies (MFHC), and Insurance Holding Companies (IHC) around the world. Attracting qualified staff is the most important component of any Solvency II implementation strategy.

One main challenge for insurance and reinsurance undertakings after the Solvency II directive is the need to assess the fitness and propriety of the persons who effectively run the undertaking. For example, according to Article 42 of the Solvency II Directive:

"Article 42. Fit and proper requirements for persons who effectively run the undertaking or have other key functions.

1. Insurance and reinsurance undertakings shall ensure that all persons who effectively run the undertaking or have other key functions at all times fulfil the following requirements:

(a) their professional qualifications, knowledge and experience are adequate to enable sound and prudent management (fit); and

(b) they are of good repute and integrity (proper).

2. Insurance and reinsurance undertakings shall notify the supervisory authority of any changes to the identity of the persons who effectively run the undertaking or are responsible for other key functions, along with all information needed to assess whether any new persons appointed to manage the undertaking are fit and proper.

3. Insurance and reinsurance undertakings shall notify their supervisory authority if any of the persons referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2 have been replaced because they no longer fulfil the requirements referred to in paragraph 1."

The training and certification programs of the Solvency II Association are designed for managers and employees of firms demanding qualified professionals that meet the fit and proper requirements.

Objectives

This course has been designed to provide with the skills needed to understand and support compliance with the Solvency ii Directive of the European Union, and to become a Certified Solvency ii Professional (CSiiP).

Target Audience

The Certified Solvency ii Professional (CSiiP) program has been designed for managers and employees involved in the implementation of risk and compliance related strategies, policies, procedures, risk assessments, control activities, testing, documentation, monitoring and reporting. This is not a program for actuaries. The calculations are out of the scope of the program and the exam.

This course is intended for decision makers, managers, professionals, consultants, and service providers that:

A. Work for insurance or reinsurance firms that provide services to the citizens of the European Economic Area (EEA) countries.

B. Work in groups - Financial Conglomerates (FC), Financial Holding Companies (FHC), Mixed Financial Holding Companies (MFHC), Insurance Holding Companies (IHC) - providing insurance and/or reinsurance services to the citizens of the European Economic Area (EEA) countries.

C. Want to understand the challenges and the opportunities after the Solvency ii Directive.

This course is highly recommended for:
- Managers and professionals involved in Solvency II (decision making and implementation),
- Risk and compliance officers,
- Auditors,
- IT professionals,
- Analysts.

Course Synopsis

Part A: The Solvency II Directive of the European Union.

- The Lamfalussy Process.
- Legal acts after the Treaty of Lisbon.
- Delegated acts.
- Implementing acts.
- The Lisbon Treaty - directives, regulations.
- Regulation No 1094/2010.
- Weaknesses of Solvency I.
- The Solvency II Directive (Directive 2009/138/EC).
- Main Objectives.
- The Three Pillars.

Part B: Understanding the Solvency II Directive.

- Important articles.
- Subject matter, scope, definitions.
- Principle of authorisation.
- Conditions for authorisation.
- Close links.
- Shareholders and members with qualifying holdings.

- General principles of supervision.
- Information to be provided for supervisory purposes.
- Supervisory review process.
- Capital add-on.
- Supervision of outsourced functions and activities.

- Responsibility of the administrative, management or supervisory body.
- General governance requirements.
- Fit and proper requirements for persons who effectively run the undertaking or have other key functions.
- Proof of good repute.
- Risk management.

- Own risk and solvency assessment.
- Internal control.
- Internal audit.
- Actuarial function.
- Outsourcing.

- Report on solvency and financial condition.
- Report on solvency and financial condition: applicable principles.
- Updates and additional voluntary information.
- Policy and approval.

- Professional secrecy.
- Cooperation agreements with third countries.

- Valuation of assets and liabilities.
- Arm's Length Transaction.
- Rules relating to technical provisions.
- Calculation of technical provisions.
- Hedgeable and Non-Hedgeable Risks.
- Calculation of technical provisions “as a whole”.
- Cost-of-Capital rate.
- Best Estimate.
- Present Value, Time Value of Money.
- Risk Margin.
- Other elements to be taken into account in the calculation of technical provisions.
- Binary Events.
- Data quality and application of approximations.
- Comparison against experience.
- Appropriateness of the level of technical provisions.

- Basic own funds.
- Ancillary own funds.
- Supervisory approval of ancillary own funds.
- Characteristics and features used to classify own funds into tiers.
- Main criteria for the classification into tiers.
- Eligibility and limits applicable to Tiers 1, 2 and 3

- The Solvency Capital Requirement (SCR).
- The Calculation of the Solvency Capital Requirement.
- Frequency of calculation.
- Structure of the standard formula.
- The Basic Solvency Capital Requirement.
- Design of the Basic Solvency Capital Requirement.
- The capital requirement for operational risk.
- The adjustment for the loss-absorbing capacity of technical provisions and deferred taxes.
- Understanding the technical provisions, MCR, SCR.
- Non-life underwriting risk.
- Life underwriting risk.
- Health underwriting risk.
- Market risk.
- Credit risk.
- Operational risk.
- Significant deviations from the assumptions underlying the standard formula calculation.

- General provisions for the approval of full and partial internal models.
- Specific provisions for the approval of partial internal models.
- Policy for changing the full and partial internal models.
- Responsibilities of the administrative, management or supervisory bodies.
- Non-compliance of the internal model.
- Use test.
- Statistical quality standards.
- Validation standards.
- Documentation standards.

- Minimum Capital Requirement (MCR).
- Calculation of the Minimum Capital Requirement.
- Investments, prudent person principle.
- Identification and notification of deteriorating financial conditions.
- Non-Compliance with the Solvency Capital Requirement.
- Non-Compliance with the Minimum Capital Requirement.

- Right of establishment and freedom to provide services.
- Conditions for branch establishment.
- Home Member States, Host Member States.
- Insurance undertakings not complying with the legal provisions.
- Reinsurance undertakings not complying with the legal provisions.
- Branches with head offices outside the community.

- Group supervision.
- Cases of application of group supervision.
- Scope of group supervision.
- Ultimate parent undertaking at Community level.
- Supervision of group solvency.
- Elimination of double use of eligible own funds.
- Elimination of the intra-group creation of capital.
- Calculation methods.
- Method 1 (Default method): Accounting consolidation-based method.
- Group internal model.
- Group capital add-on.
- Method 2 (Alternative method): Deduction and aggregation method.
- Risk management and internal controls.
- Group Supervisor.
- Group solvency and financial condition report.
- Parent undertakings outside the Union: verification of equivalence.
- Case Studies.

Part C: Corporate Governance and Risk Management principles.

- Board of Directors.
- 12 Principles – System of Governance.
- Fit and Proper Requirements.
- Strategic risk.
- Reputational risk.
- Internal Control.
- Outsourcing.

Part D: Regulations and guidelines supplementing the Solvency II Directive.

- Regulation (EU) 2015/35, supplementing the Solvency II Directive.
- Data used in the calculation of technical provisions.
- Limitations of data.
- Appropriate use of approximations to calculate the best estimate.
- Calculation methods.
- Use of the internal model.
- Fit to the business.
- Understanding the internal model.
- Support of decision-making and integration with risk management.
- Adequate, applicable and relevant actuarial techniques.
- Documentation standards.
- Minimum content of the documentation.
- General governance requirements.
- Risk Management System.
- Risk management areas.
- The Functions.
- Remuneration policy.
- Capital management.
- Elements of the regular supervisory reporting.
- Own-risk and solvency assessment, supervisory report.
- Criteria for assessing third country equivalence.

- Regulation (EU) 2015/462.
- Qualitative content of the annual report.
- Description of the risks assumed by the special purpose vehicle.

- Regulation (EU) 2015/460.
- Application to calculate the Solvency Capital Requirement using an internal model.
- Assessment of the application.
- Decision on the application.

- Regulation (EU) 2015/461.
- Agreement on the process.
- Proposal for a decision.
- Final decision.
- Notification of the decision.

- EIOPA, Guidelines on the supervision of branches of third-country insurance undertakings.

- EIOPA, Guidelines on Own Risk and Solvency Assessment (ORSA).

- EIOPA, Guidelines on the methodology for equivalence assessments by National Supervisory Authorities under Solvency II.

- EIOPA, Guidelines on supervisory review process.

- Joint Guidelines on the convergence of supervisory practices relating to the consistency of supervisory coordination arrangements for financial conglomerates.

- Basel and Solvency ii – regulatory arbitrage challenges.
- The impact of Basel 3.
- Closing remarks.

Become a Certified Solvency ii Professional (CSiiP)

We will send the program up to 24 hours after the payment. Please remember to check the spam folder of your email client too, as emails with attachments are often landed in the spam folder.

You have the option to ask for a full refund up to 60 days after the payment. If you do not want one of our programs or services for any reason, all you must do is to send us an email, and we will refund the payment, no questions asked.

Your payment will be received by our strategic partner and service provider, Cyber Risk GmbH (Dammstrasse 16, 8810 Horgen, Switzerland, Handelsregister des Kantons Zürich, Firmennummer: CHE-244.099.341). Cyber Risk GmbH may also send certificates to all members.

The all-inclusive cost is $297. There is no additional cost, now or in the future, for this program.

First option: You can purchase the Certified Solvency ii Professional (CSiiP) program with VISA, MASTERCARD, AMEX, Apple Pay, Google Pay etc.

Second option: QR code payment.

i. Open the camera app or the QR app on your phone.

ii. Scan the QR code and possibly wait for a few seconds.

iii. Click on the link that appears, open your browser, and make the payment.

Third option: You can purchase the Certified Solvency ii Professional (CSiiP) program with PayPal

When you click "PayPal" below, you will be redirected to the PayPal web site. If you prefer to pay with a card, you can click "Debit or Credit Card" that is also powered by PayPal.

What is included in the price:

A. The official presentations (1,242 slides)

The presentations are effective and appropriate to study online or offline. Busy professionals have full control over their own learning and are able to study at their own speed. They are able to move faster through areas of the course they feel comfortable with, but slower through those that they need a little more time on.

B. Up to 3 online exam attempts per year

Candidates must pass only one exam to become CSiiPs. If they fail, they must study the official presentations and retake the exam. Candidates are entitled to 3 exam attempts every year.

If candidates do not achieve a passing score on the exam the first time, they can retake the exam a second time.

If they do not achieve a passing score the second time, they can retake the exam a third time.

If candidates do not achieve a passing score the third time, they must wait at least one year before retaking the exam. There is no additional cost for any additional exam attempts.

To learn more about the online exam you may visit:

https://www.solvency-ii-association.com/CSiiP_Frequently_Asked_Questions.pdf

https://www.solvency-ii-association.com/CSiiP_Certification_Steps.pdf

C. The Certificate, with a scannable QR code for verification.

You will receive your certificate via email in Adobe Acrobat format (pdf), with a scannable QR code for verification, 7 business days after you pass the exam. A business day refers to any day in which normal business operations are conducted (in our case Monday through Friday), excluding weekends and public holidays.

D. One web page of the Solvency II Association dedicated to you (https://www.solvency-ii-association.com/Your_Name.htm).

When third parties scan the QR code on your certificate, they will visit the web page of the Solvency II Association that is dedicated to you. They will be able to verify that you are a certified professional, and your certificates are valid and legitimate.

In this dedicated web page we will have your name, the certificates you have received from us, pictures of your certificates, and a picture of your lifetime membership certificate if you are a lifetime member.

This is an example:

https://www.solvency-ii-association.com/Helga_Steiner.htm

Professional certificates are some of the most frequently falsified documents. Employers and third parties need an easy, effective, and efficient way to check the authenticity of each certificate. QR code verification is a good response to this demand.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. I want to know more about the Solvency II Association.

The Solvency II Association is the largest association of Solvency II professionals in the world. The association is wholly owned by Compliance LLC, a company incorporated in Wilmington NC and offices in Washington DC, a provider of risk and compliance training in 36 countries.

Several business units of Compliance LLC are very successful associations that offer standard, premium, and lifetime membership, weekly or monthly updates, training, certification, Authorized Certified Trainer (ACT) programs, advocacy, and other services to their members.

2. Does the association offer training?

The Solvency II Association offers distance learning and online certification programs in all countries, and in-house instructor-led training in companies and organizations in many countries.

A. Distance learning and online certification program.

Certified Solvency ii Professional (CSiiP), distance learning and online certification program. To learn more, you may visit: https://www.solvency-ii-association.com/CSiiP_Distance_Learning_Online_Certification_Program.htm

B. Instructor-led training.

The association develops and maintains certification programs and tailor-made training programs for directors, executive managers, risk and compliance managers, internal and external auditors, data owners, process owners, consultants, suppliers, and service providers.

For instructor-led training, you may contact Lyn Spooner.

3. Is there any discount available for the distance learning programs?

Unfortunately, we do not offer any discount for the first program. We want to keep the cost of the programs so low for all members.

You have a $100 discount only after you purchase the CSiiP program at $297. The discount applies to the programs of the International Association of Risk and Compliance Professionals (IARCP). You may visit: https://www.risk-compliance-association.com). The Solvency II Association and the IARCP are both wholly owned by Compliance LLC.

For example, you can purchase the CSiiP program for $297, and then purchase the CRCMP program for $197 (instead of $297), and/or the CISRCP program for $197 (instead of $297).

The CRCMP has become one of the most recognized programs in risk management and compliance. There are CRCMPs in 32 countries. Companies and organizations like Accenture, American Express, USAA etc. consider the CRCMP a preferred certificate. You can find more at: https://www.risk-compliance-association.com/CRCMP_Jobs_Careers.pdf

4. Are your training and certification programs vendor neutral?

Yes. We do not promote any products or services, and we are 100% independent.

5. I want to learn more about the exam.

You can take the exam online in the comfort of your home or office, in all countries. You will be given 90 minutes to complete a 35-question multiple-choice exam. You must score 70% or higher.

We do not send sample questions. If you study the presentations, you can score 100%.

When you are ready to take the exam, you must follow the steps: https://www.solvency-ii-association.com/CSiiP_Certification_Steps.pdf

6. How comprehensive are the presentations? Are they just bullet points?

The presentations are not bullet points. They are effective and appropriate to study online or offline.

7. Do I need to buy books to pass the exam?

No. If you study the presentations, you can pass the exam. All the exam questions are clearly answered in the presentations. If you fail the first time, you must study more. Print the presentations and use Post-it to attach notes, to know where to find the answer to a question.

8. Is it an open book exam? Why?

Yes, it is an open book exam. Risk and compliance management is something you must understand and learn, not memorize. You must acquire knowledge and skills, not commit something to memory.

9. Do I have to sit for the exam soon after receiving the presentations?

No. You can sit for the exam from your office or home, any time in the future. Your account never expires and there is no restriction of any kind.

10. Do I have to spend more money in the future to remain certified?

No. Your certificates never expire. They will be valid, without the need to spend money or to sit for another exam in the future.

11. Ok, the certificates never expire, but things change.

Recertification would be a great recurring revenue stream for the association, but it would also be a recurring expense for our members. We resisted the temptation to "introduce multiple recurring revenue streams to keep business flowing", as we were consulted. No recertification is needed for our programs.

Things change, and this is the reason you need to become (at no cost) a member of the association. Every month you can visit the "Reading Room" of the association and read our newsletter with updates, alerts, and opportunities, to stay current.

12. How many hours do I need to study to pass the exam?

You must study the presentations at least twice, to ensure you have learned the details. The average time needed for the CSiiP program is about 38 hours, but there are important differences.

13. I want to receive a printed certificate. Can you send me one?

Unfortunately this is not possible. You will receive your certificate via email in Adobe Acrobat format (pdf), with a scannable QR code for verification, 7 business days after you pass the exam. A business day refers to any day in which normal business operations are conducted (in our case Monday through Friday), excluding weekends and public holidays.

The association will develop a dedicated web page for each certified professional (https://www.solvency-ii-association.com/Your_Name.html). In your dedicated web page we will add your full name, all the certificates you have received from the association, and the pictures of your certificates.

When third parties scan the QR code on your certificate, they will visit your dedicated web page, and they will be able to verify that you are a certified professional, and your certificates are valid and legitimate.

You can print your certificate that you will receive in Adobe Acrobat format (pdf). With the scannable QR code, all third parties can verify the authenticity of each certificate in a matter of seconds.

14. Why should I get certified?

Firms and organizations hire and promote "fit and proper" professionals who can provide evidence that they are qualified. Employers need assurance that employees have the knowledge and skills needed to mitigate risks and accept responsibility.

Supervisors and auditors ask for independent evidence that the process owners are qualified, and that the controls can operate as designed, because the persons responsible for these controls have the necessary knowledge and experience.

The marketplace is clearly demanding qualified professionals in risk and compliance management. Certified professionals enjoy industry recognition and have more and better job opportunities. It is important to get certified and to belong to professional associations. You prove that you are somebody who cares, learns, and belongs to a global community of professionals.

15. Why should I choose your certification programs?

We strongly believe that we offer the best value for money compared to all other Solvency II training and certification programs, in any country:

a. The Solvency II Association is the largest association of Solvency II Professionals in the world.

b. The all-inclusive cost of our programs is very low. There is no additional cost for each program, now or in the future, for any reason.

c. There are 3 exam attempts per year that are included in the cost of each program, so you do not have to spend money again if you fail.

d. No recertification is required. Your certificates never expire.

e. If you purchase a second program as described above, you have a $100 discount. The all-inclusive cost for your second (and each additional) program is $197.