EIOPA Makes Digital Resilience Part of Everyday Insurance Supervision

Key Takeaways

• DORA Expands Supervisory Scope: Digital operational resilience became part of EIOPA's oversight activities for the first time, covering cyber incident reporting, crisis management preparedness and implementation by national supervisors.
• Supervisory Convergence Remained a Core Priority: EIOPA conducted 10 country visits to strengthen coordination and promote more consistent supervisory practices across the European Economic Area.
• Cross-Border Oversight Stayed Front and Center: The authority participated in 33 colleges of supervisors, alongside financial conglomerate and third-country group colleges, using a risk-based approach to prioritize engagement.

Deep Dive

The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority spent much of 2025 doing the kind of work that rarely attracts headlines but quietly determines whether supervision across Europe's insurance market moves in the same direction. A report published Friday traces that effort through country visits, technical reviews and cross-border coordination, while marking one notable expansion in scope: digital operational resilience has formally become part of the authority's oversight agenda.

The report offers an account of EIOPA's supervisory activities over the past year, describing an organization focused less on writing new rules than on making sure existing ones are applied with greater consistency across the European Economic Area. That meant working alongside national supervisors through bilateral engagements, colleges of supervisors, collaboration platforms and on-site inspections intended to narrow differences in supervisory practice.

The arrival of the Digital Operational Resilience Act, better known as DORA, widened that mandate. For the first time, EIOPA's oversight work extended into digital operational resilience, covering areas including cyber incident reporting, crisis management preparedness and the practical implementation of the framework by national competent authorities.

Those themes joined a supervisory program that continued to span prudential oversight, conduct-of-business supervision, internal models and the monitoring of cross-border insurance groups.

Building Consistency Across National Supervisors

Country visits remained one of EIOPA's principal tools for understanding how supervision is carried out on the ground. During 2025, the authority completed 10 such visits. Three focused on prudential supervision, six examined conduct-of-business oversight and one addressed occupational pensions.

According to the report, those engagements were intended not simply to assess national supervisory practices but to encourage greater convergence across the European supervisory system. EIOPA said the bilateral discussions gave it a deeper understanding of how national authorities approach their responsibilities while helping strengthen supervisory quality across the region.

That emphasis on coordination also shaped the authority's work in colleges of supervisors, the permanent forums where authorities overseeing cross-border insurance groups exchange information and coordinate supervisory action. EIOPA participated in 33 of the 60 colleges operating during the year, selecting its involvement through a risk-based approach. It also took part in seven banking-led financial conglomerate colleges and seven colleges responsible for third-country international groups.

Oversight Beyond Routine Supervision

The report shows a supervisory program extending well beyond formal meetings. During the year, EIOPA participated in nine collaboration platforms, joined three on-site inspections and carried out three comparative studies examining insurers' internal models. Alongside those activities, the authority provided technical assistance to national competent authorities and monitored regulatory and supervisory developments in third countries whose supervisory regimes have been recognized as equivalent.

The document also serves as a reminder of where EIOPA fits within Europe's supervisory architecture. While it is responsible for coordinating insurance and occupational pensions supervision at the European Union level, day-to-day oversight remains with national supervisory authorities. EIOPA's role is to promote consistent supervisory practices, particularly where firms operate across borders, and to support coordinated supervisory responses that protect policyholders throughout the European market.

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