Guidance for accountants reporting on controls of a service organization relevant to the financial reporting of user organizations was primarily included in SAS 70. This regulation focused on risks related to financial reporting. However, it was often misused for reporting on operations or compliance. The SSAE 16 and ISAE 3402 regulations were established to address these issues.

EIOPA’s final postponement regarding the implementation of Solvency II in Europe (the start date is now set for January 1, 2014) ends an uncertain time for insurers. The reason for the postponement, announced in late 2011, has since been explained through Q&As and consultation papers. However, a number of questions remain unanswered, such as:

-  When will the outstanding issues (that emerged from the consultation papers, for example) be resolved?

- To what extent can insurers implement Solvency II in 2013?

ISAE 3402 is the standard for outsourcing processes and security. It is increasingly required across various industries and by government entities for participation in tenders.

Paul Tucker, Deputy Governor of the Bank of England, recently described the Solvency II directive in an interview as overly complicated and expensive. Tucker indicated that the Solvency II directive might contribute to financial instability rather than provide greater security.

According to Tucker, the main issues are the high costs associated with implementing the new directive and its complexity.

Solvency II will have far-reaching consequences not only for insurers but also for the capital market.

Insurers, pension funds, and consultants have been anticipating the implementation of Solvency II for some time. In brief, Solvency II demands a more comprehensive risk management framework and higher capital requirements for European insurers.

TelecityGroup is Europe’s leading carrier-neutral data centre provider. TelecityGroup’s data centres offer high connectivity and secure environments for IT and telecom equipment, which are the driving force behind the digital economy. Telecity has data centre clusters in 12 major European cities. In Telecity’s data centres, the networks that make up the Internet converge, and bandwidth-intensive applications, content, and information are securely hosted.

President Klaas Knot of the Dutch Central Bank (DNB) has expressed clear concerns regarding the collateral accepted by the seven central banks in the eurozone. ‘I would have preferred it otherwise; I would have preferred we had not done this at all. As a central banker, I am naturally not enthusiastic about this,’ he stated.

In December and February, the ECB provided banks with three-year loans totaling €1000 billion. During this operation, the collateral requirements were relaxed, increasing the risk exposure.

Amsterdam, 19 May 2015 – All TelecityGroup locations in Amsterdam have been certified according to the international outsourcing standard ISAE 3402. With this certification, TelecityGroup Netherlands demonstrates that its data centres meet internationally accepted quality and security standards. For customers, this certification provides proof that their outsourced processes are effectively controlled within the data centre.

Gabriel Bernardino, president of EIOPA, expressed his desire for an international insurance market supervisory and legislative body in a speech early this month.

´The insurance market is spreading globally, creating new opportunities, challenges but also risks,´ said Bernardino. Creating a healthy and stable insurance market requires such international cooperation. The best way to ensure financial stability and proper consumer protection is through the development of a global regulatory and supervisory standard.

Many organisations focus primarily on their core competencies and outsource the rest. Common examples include payroll administration and technological infrastructure. Dependence on these services is increasing as many industries and businesses become interconnected.

Several stakeholders examine SOC reports. When a SOC audit report appears ‘correct,’ it distinguishes an organisation from its competitors and can provide operational credibility. Stakeholders mainly look at the following variables: