Citation and commencement

1. This Order may be cited as the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Variation of Threshold Conditions) (Amendment) Order 2005 and comes into force on 6th April 2005.

Amendments

2. —(1)The Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Variation of Threshold Conditions) Order 2001( 2 ) is amended as follows.

(2) For paragraph (3) of article 3 (non-EEA insurers) substitute—

“ (3) The conditions set out in paragraphs 4 and 5 of Schedule 6 (adequate resources and suitability) are removed in relation to a Swiss general insurance company. ” .

(3) After article 3 insert—

“ Swiss general insurance companies

4. —(1) A Swiss general insurance company must, for the purposes of section 41 and Schedule 6, satisfy the following additional conditions—

(a) the value of the assets of the business carried on by it in the United Kingdom must not fall below the amount of the liabilities of that business, that value and amount being determined in such manner as may be specified;

(b) such assets must be maintained in such places as may be specified and must be of such a nature as may be specified as being appropriate in relation to the currency in which the liabilities of the company are or may be required to be met; and

(c) when applying to the Authority for permission to carry on a regulated activity it must submit to the Authority a statement from the supervisory authorities in Switzerland—

(i) stating the classes of insurance business which the company is authorised to carry on in Switzerland,

(ii) specifying the risks covered there,

(iii) declaring that the company is constituted in Switzerland in a form permitted by Annex 3 of the Agreement signed on 10th October 1989 between the European Economic Community and the Swiss Confederation on direct insurance other than life assurance ( 3 ) ,

(iv) confirming that the company limits its business activities to insurance and to operations directly arising therefrom to the exclusion of all other commercial business, and

(v) declaring that the company has the required solvency margin or minimum guarantee fund.

(2) In this article, “specified” means specified in rules. ” .