As the Basel II process beds down it looks like it is the insurance world that is next. The replacement of Solvency I (as it is now known) by Solvency II has been set down for 2012 in the EU, with the expectation that it will be broadly followed elsewhere.

We can only hope for two things:

  1. They will come up with a better name for it (it lacks the ring that even a fairly boring town in Switzerland can bring it); and
  2. The US will not cock it up as badly as they have Basel II.

I know that, unlike Basel, there is no real global need to follow Solvency II, but given the globalized  structure of the industry, something like this is inevitable.

I cannot claim to be too aware of insurance issues, so I will not try to pretend – but if you want to vent your own spleen or discuss the is

sue, go ahead.