FRANKFURT, Germany—The Federation of European Risk Management Assns. plans to intensify its efforts to ensure European insurance buyers' concerns are addressed as details of the Solvency II capital adequacy regulations take shape, FERMA's new president says.

Peter Den Dekker, corporate insurance risk manager at Amsterdam, Netherlands-based Stork N.V. and the new president of FERMA, said he will make it his top priority to ensure that the Committee of European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Supervisors and the European Commission are fully aware of insurance buyers' needs and fears over Solvency II.

Mr. Den Dekker made his comments during a panel discussion at a conference on the future of risk regulation late last week in Frankfurt, Germany, which was organized by Business Insurance in connection with the Deutscher Versicherungs-Schutzverband e.V. and the Bundesverband firmenverbundener Versicherungsvermittler und-gesellschaften e.V., the two main German insurance buyer associations.

Both keynote speakers—Stefan Sigulla, president of the DVS and chief executive officer of insurance at Siemens A.G., and Peter Klatt, board member of European Captive Insurance & Reinsurance Owners' Assn., member of the BfV and managing director of the captive broker of BMW A.G.—stressed that insurance buyers are concerned in particular about the impact of Solvency II on captives and on the availability and cost of insurance coverage.

“There is an increased workload that needs to be done to meet the regulation, and it does not bring a lot of added value…it risks making captives quite unattractive,” said Mr. Klatt.

Marisa Attard, insurance regulator at the Malta Financial Services Authority, agreed with other speakers that the new capital adequacy regulations could place pressure on smaller and niche insurance companies to continue operations, which would not necessarily be in the interests of insurance buyers.

“We need more lobbying from the smaller insurers, because they play a very important role in the markets. They need to prioritize and promote themselves through associations like the Comité Européen des Assurances,” which is Europe's federation of insurance companies, said Ms. Attard.