European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority underscores new Solvency II gender diversity requirements and ongoing guideline consultation

In a conference speech on corporate governance, sustainability and diversity, the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) set out its case for stronger gender equality and inclusion in financial services, and highlighted governance changes emerging from the Solvency II review that require insurance and reinsurance undertakings to implement diversity policies for their administrative, management and supervisory bodies, including quantitative objectives for gender balance. EIOPA pointed to persistent under-representation of women in economic decision-making in Europe, citing that only one in three board members and 8% of board chairs are women, and argued that lack of diversity can translate into data and design biases with implications for risk assessment, product design and access to finance. The speech linked gender pay and career patterns to long-term financial security, noting that women in the European Union receive pensions nearly 30% smaller than men and face a 35% higher risk of poverty, and warned that AI and automation may disproportionately affect roles with higher female representation while women represent 30% of the AI and data workforce globally. It also referenced EU initiatives including the Women on Boards Directive, which mandates 40% of non-executive director positions be held by women by 2026, and reiterated EIOPA’s support for wider implementation of pension dashboards and tracking tools to monitor pension gaps. EIOPA is developing guidelines on the Solvency II diversity requirements through an ongoing public consultation.