Standard & Poor's held a conference in the last week of June about the challenges and opportunities of the insurance markets in Europe.

We have had the chance to meet with Karin Clemens, Managing Director and Lead Analytical Manager at S&P, and asked her if she could outline for us the key elements S&P are monitoring. The industry continues to face a number of challenges, she outlines the main ones : investment markets, regulatory environment, intense competition in the property casualty market and the sovereign risk exposure.

The main difficulties that large companies face in view of Solvency II mainly concern capital requirements, which are subject to change as they may increase significantly. 2011 may still hold challenges in terms of ratings, although the number of negative outlooks has reduced when compared to the previous year. Overall the main ratings challenges for 2011 remains interest rate environment, financial market volatility and sovereign exposure .

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