Solvency II Insurance Capital and ORSA Training Course

Course overview

Solvency II capital management is not limited to producing a Solvency Capital Requirement figure at year-end. Risk, actuarial, finance and compliance teams must explain how the standard formula or internal model connects to underwriting plans, investment strategy, reinsurance, liquidity, dividend capacity and recovery actions. Weak links between the risk register, business plan, capital model and ORSA report can result in unsupported management decisions, inconsistent assumptions and difficult supervisory challenge. This course equips participants to make those links explicit and defensible.

Participants examine the three-pillar Solvency II framework, eligible own funds, the Minimum Capital Requirement and Solvency Capital Requirement, standard-formula modules, diversification, loss-absorbing capacity and the use of internal models. They learn to structure an Own Risk and Solvency Assessment, define material risks outside the SCR, translate strategic plans into forward-looking capital projections, and design severe-but-plausible stress and reverse-stress scenarios. Practical attention is given to governance, documentation, validation, management information and the relationship between ORSA, QRTs and the Solvency and Financial Condition Report.

The five-day programme combines instructor-led analysis with an integrated insurer case study. Participants work through a capital-position calculation, assess own-funds eligibility, build a multi-year ORSA projection in Microsoft Excel, challenge assumptions and prepare a board-level capital and risk narrative. They leave with a completed ORSA planning pack containing a risk-and-capital linkage map, scenario specification, projection model structure, management dashboard and action tracker that can be adapted for use in their own firm.

The course is designed for professionals who already work with insurance risk, capital, actuarial, finance or regulatory reporting and need a practical operating understanding of Solvency II rather than a purely legal interpretation.

Course objectives

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Interpret the Solvency II three-pillar framework and map its requirements to insurer governance, reporting and decision processes
• Calculate and explain eligible own funds, the Minimum Capital Requirement and the Solvency Capital Requirement
• Decompose standard-formula SCR results by risk module, correlation effects, diversification benefit and loss-absorbing capacity
• Assess when an internal model, partial internal model or standard formula is appropriate and identify associated governance evidence
• Construct a multi-year ORSA capital projection linked to business-plan assumptions, dividends, reinsurance and investment strategy
• Design stress, scenario and reverse-stress tests with defined management actions and solvency triggers
• Evaluate material risks not fully captured by the SCR and document them in an ORSA risk assessment
• Produce a board-ready ORSA planning pack with capital metrics, scenario results, decisions and action owners

Benefits of attending

Target competencies

Who should attend

• Risk Managers — who coordinate ORSA processes and need to connect enterprise risks to capital and business planning
• Actuaries — who produce or challenge technical provisions, capital calculations and forward-looking solvency projections
• Solvency II Reporting Managers — who reconcile capital, QRT, SFCR and ORSA information for internal and regulatory stakeholders
• Finance Managers — who assess own funds, dividend capacity, capital planning and the financial impact of strategic decisions
• Compliance and Regulatory Affairs Managers — who oversee governance evidence and prepare for supervisory review of the ORSA
• Internal Auditors — who test the design and operating effectiveness of capital-management and ORSA controls

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have working familiarity with insurance-company financial statements, basic insurance products, underwriting and investment risks, and the purpose of technical provisions. Experience with risk registers, actuarial reporting, capital reporting, financial planning or regulatory compliance is useful. Attendees should be comfortable reading spreadsheets and performing straightforward percentage, ratio and scenario calculations in Microsoft Excel. Prior exposure to Solvency II terminology, such as SCR, MCR and own funds, is helpful but not essential. Advanced actuarial mathematics, stochastic modelling, programming, an approved internal model or prior QRT preparation are not required.

Training methodology

Instructor-led sessions introduce the Solvency II rules, calculation logic and supervisory expectations using worked insurer examples. Participants then apply each concept to a continuing case: mapping risks, interpreting a standard-formula capital result, assessing own funds and constructing a forward-looking ORSA projection in Microsoft Excel. Small-group workshops challenge business-plan assumptions, select stresses and formulate management actions. Facilitated reviews focus on the quality of evidence a board, auditor or supervisor would expect. The final session converts the case outputs into an individual application plan for the participant's own ORSA or capital-management cycle.

Course outline

Day 1: Solvency II framework, governance and capital architecture

• Three-pillar Solvency II framework and supervisory objectives
• Roles of the administrative body, key functions and risk-management system
• Technical provisions, balance-sheet valuation and the economic balance sheet
• Eligible own funds tiers and tier limits
• Minimum Capital Requirement and Solvency Capital Requirement purposes
• Risk appetite statements, solvency triggers and capital-management policy
• Links between ORSA, SFCR, RSR and Quantitative Reporting Templates

Workshop: Participants map a case insurer's governance, risk appetite and reporting cycle into a Solvency II capital-management process map.

Day 2: SCR calculation and capital interpretation

• Standard-formula SCR structure and modular aggregation
• Market risk sub-modules including interest-rate, spread, equity and property risk
• Life, non-life and health underwriting risk modules
• Counterparty default, operational and intangible-asset risk treatment
• Correlation matrices and diversification benefit analysis
• Loss-absorbing capacity of technical provisions and deferred taxes
• Internal models, partial internal models and use-test governance

Workshop: Participants analyse a standard-formula SCR worksheet, identify the principal capital drivers and prepare a concise capital-movement explanation.

Day 3: ORSA design and forward-looking capital assessment

• ORSA purpose, scope and EIOPA Guidelines on ORSA
• Materiality assessment and risks not fully captured in the SCR
• Business-plan assumptions for premiums, claims, expenses, investments and reinsurance
• Multi-year own-funds and solvency-ratio projection methods
• Capital impacts of dividends, subordinated debt and management actions
• Risk appetite metrics, limits and early-warning indicators
• Data lineage, model validation and ORSA documentation standards

Workshop: Participants build a three-year ORSA projection structure for the case insurer and document the assumptions required from finance, actuarial and investment teams.

Day 4: Stress testing, scenario analysis and management actions

• Sensitivity testing versus scenario testing versus reverse stress testing
• Severe-but-plausible scenario construction and narrative design
• Combined underwriting, market, credit and liquidity stress events
• Reinsurance recoverability and counterparty-failure scenarios
• Management-action assessment, feasibility and execution timing
• Solvency triggers, recovery options and contingency capital plans
• Scenario governance, challenge records and approval evidence

Workshop: Teams design and quantify a combined market-and-catastrophe scenario, then produce a management-action sequence to restore the target solvency ratio.

Day 5: Board reporting, regulatory evidence and workplace application

• Board-level ORSA report structure and decision-focused narrative
• Capital dashboards, key risk indicators and solvency trend reporting
• Reconciling ORSA projections with QRT and SFCR disclosures
• Assumption challenge, independent review and internal audit evidence
• Supervisory review themes and common ORSA deficiencies
• Annual ORSA timetable, ownership matrix and escalation routes
• Personal implementation planning for the next ORSA cycle

Workshop: Participants present a board-ready ORSA planning pack for the case insurer and complete a tailored 90-day implementation plan for their workplace.

Tools & standards covered

Microsoft Excel, Solvency II Directive 2009/138/EC, Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/35, EIOPA Guidelines on ORSA

A typical training day

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in the East Africa Time zone, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

How you can take this course

Certification

Participants who complete the full five days receive the Skillset Development Certificate of Completion, stating the course title, course code, dates and delivery format — suitable for professional-development records and employer reimbursement.

Frequently asked questions