Petra Hielkema

Petra is the Chairperson of EIOPA and is leading the Authority since September 2021. On 27 May 2021, the Council adopted the decision to appoint her after the confirmation by the European Parliament on 18 May 2021. Petra is also member of the ESRB Steering Committee and member of the IAIS Executive Committee. Besides that she is the Champion of the IAIS Fintech Forum. In 2022 Petra is also chairing the Joint Committee of the three ESA’s (EIOPA, EBA and ESMA).

Prior to this role, Petra was Division Director Insurance Supervision at De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB, the Dutch Central Bank). The division is responsible for the supervision of the Dutch insurance sector. Petra joined DNB in February 2007. In 2013 she became Head Insurance Policy. In 2015 she was appointed as Head of the DNB Expert Center for Fit & Proper testing, assessing (supervisory and management) board members in the financial sector. In February 2017 she started as Director of Payments and Market Infrastructures and was responsible for the payments and collateral operations of the central bank, oversight, policy and cyber intelligence. Also the TIBER project (Threat Intelligence Based Ethical Red teaming) was part of her responsibilities. Prior to joining the Dutch Central Bank Petra had an international career in the oil and gas industry.

•  What transitions are taking place in the regulation of European insurance industry today?

Given the urgency of a transition to a more sustainable economy as well as climate change being one of the top global risks, naturally many regulation topics are now related to ESG. The co-legislators are incorporating sustainability principles into Solvency II, SFDR, IDD as well as doing further work on the taxonomy and the risk of green washing. Naturally EIOPA stands ready to support on these issues.

Another transition that we are observing and that is changing our society is a technological one. Digitalisation is changing how the insurance industry interacts with its clients and other stakeholders. As we know, digitalisation brings both benefits and risks. Here, the role of regulatory frameworks is to respond properly and to adapt to new risks, not only through changes in sectoral legislation, but increasingly through cross-sectoral and horizontal legislation, like the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) and the AI Act.

• As chair of EIOPA, what are the main messages you will have for corporate insurance buyers at the FERMA Forum?

I plan to touch upon trends and risks such as cyber risks, green washing and regulatory developments. I would also like to look at how things stand with the review of Solvency II and share an update on our work in natural catastrophes.

• How do you hope that taking part in the FERMA Forum will help inform EIOPA’s discussions?

I think that discussions and exchanges of views always bring benefits. In order to see where the problems lie, it is important to listen. And the FERMA Forum is a good opportunity to do that, especially given the diverse voices that you bring together through your membership.

•  In what areas could EIOPA work more closely with corporate insurance buyers?

We appreciate the contribution that FERMA already makes through the EIOPA Insurance and Reinsurance Stakeholder, with recent advice including topics such as climate scenarios in ORSA, retails investment protection, DORA and IDD sustainability guidelines. Also, FERMA actively contributes to our consultations which helps EIOPA to consider a variety of views. Finally, we also had a very helpful dialogue with FERMA in the context of developing the idea of shared resilience solutions for pandemic and risks of a similar nature.