Cap. 403 Art. 32CCo-operation and exchange of information with respect to group supervision.

(1) Where the competent authority is the group supervisor, it shall cooperate closely with the other authorities responsible for the supervision of individual insurance or reinsurance undertakings in a group, in particular, in cases where an insurance or reinsurance undertaking within the group encounters financial difficulties.

(2) Where the competent authority is one of the authorities responsible for the supervision of an individual insurance or reinsurance undertaking in a group, it shall cooperate closely with other responsible authorities in the group and the group supervisor, in particular, in cases where an insurance or reinsurance undertaking encounters financial difficulties.

(3) Where the competent authority is the group supervisor or is one of the authorities responsible for the supervision of an individual insurance or reinsurance undertaking in a group, it shall -

(a) provide other authorities responsible for the supervision of an individual insurance or reinsurance undertaking in a group with such information so as to allow and facilitate the exercise of the supervisory tasks concerned under the Solvency II Directive;

(b) communicate all relevant information to such authorities without delay, as soon as it becomes available or exchange information on request; and

(c) call immediately for a meeting of all the authorities involved in the supervision of the group, at least where -

(i) it becomes aware of a significant breach of the Solvency Capital Requirement or a breach of the Minimum Capital Requirement of an individual insurance or reinsurance undertaking;

(ii) it becomes aware of a significant breach of the Solvency Capital Requirement at group level calculated on the basis of consolidated data or the aggregated group Solvency Capital Requirement, in accordance with whichever calculation method is used, in Title III, Chapter II, Section I, Subsection 4 of the Solvency II Directive; or

(iii) other exceptional circum-stances are occurring or have occurred.

(4) Where one of the authorities responsible for the supervision of an individual insurance or reinsurance undertaking in a group has not communicated relevant information, or a request for cooperation, in particular to exchange relevant information, has been rejected or has not been acted upon within two weeks, the competent authority may refer the matter to EIOPA.

(5) Where the group supervisor fails to carry out the tasks referred to in paragraph (1) of Article 248 of the Solvency II Directive, or where the members of the college of supervisors do not cooperate to the extent required by that sub-article, the competent authority may refer the matter to EIOPA and request its assistance in accordance with Article 19 of Regulation (EU) No 1094/2010.

(6) Where the competent authority is the group supervisor, it shall provide the authorities responsible for the supervision of an individual insurance or reinsurance undertaking in a group and EIOPA with information regarding the group in accordance with Article 19, Article 51(1) and Article 254(2) of the Solvency II Directive, in particular regarding the legal structure and the governance and organisational structure of the group.

(7) Without prejudice to Article 248 of the Solvency II Directive, the competent authority shall, where a decision is of importance for the supervisory tasks of the other authorities responsible for the supervision of an individual insurance or reinsurance undertaking in a group, prior to taking any decision, consult the said authorities in the college of supervisors with regard to the following:

(a) changes in the shareholding structure, organisational or management structure of an authorised insurance and reinsurance undertaking which is part of a group and which requires the approval or authorisation of the competent authority;

(b) the decision on the extension of the recovery period in accordance with Article 138(3) and (4) of the Solvency II Directive;

(c) major sanctions or exceptional measures taken by the competent authority, including the imposition of a capital add-on to the Solvency Capital Requirement under article 31C and the imposition of any limitation on the use of an internal model for the calculation of the Solvency Capital Requirement as determined in Insurance Rules made for the purposes of Title I, Chapter VI, Section 4, Subsection 3 of the Solvency II Directive.

(8) For the purposes of paragraph (b) and (c) of sub-article (7) and where the competent authority is not the group supervisor, the group supervisor shall always be consulted.

(9) Where the competent authority is considering a decision based on information received from other authorities responsible for the supervision of an individual insurance or reinsurance undertaking in a group, it shall consult such authorities concerned before taking that decision.

(10) Without prejudice to Article 248 of the Solvency II Directive, the competent authority may decide not to consult other authorities in cases of urgency or where such consultation may jeopardise the effectiveness of its decision. In such a case, the competent authority shall without delay, inform the other authorities responsible for the supervision of an individual insurance or reinsurance undertaking in a group.

(11) Where the competent authority is the group supervisor and requires information from an undertaking for the purposes of Article 254(2) of the Solvency II Directive, which has already been given to another authority responsible for the supervision of an individual insurance or reinsurance undertaking in a group, the competent authority shall, whenever possible, contact that authority to obtain such information.

(12) Where a parent undertaking has its head office in Malta and the competent authority is not the group supervisor pursuant to Article 247 of the Solvency II Directive, the competent authority shall, upon request by the group supervisor, require the parent undertaking to provide any relevant information for the exercise of group supervision as set out in Article 248 of the Solvency II Directive, and the competent authority shall transmit such information to the group supervisor.

(13) Where the competent authority is the group supervisor, it may ask the European regulatory authority of a parent undertaking which has its head office in another Member State, to request such undertaking to submit any information which would be relevant for the exercise of its co-ordination rights and duties as set out in Article 248 of the Solvency II Directive, and to transmit it directly to the competent authority.

(14) Information received for the purposes of this article shall be treated as confidential and protected by the duty of professional secrecy.