Own Risk and Solvency Assessment (ORSA)
An ORSA is an internal process undertaken by an insurer or insurance group to assess the adequacy of its risk management and current and prospective solvency positions under normal and severe stress scenarios. An ORSA will require insurers to analyze all reasonably foreseeable and relevant material risks (i.e., underwriting, credit, market, operational, liquidity risks, etc.) that could have an impact on an insurer's ability to meet its policyholder obligations.
The "O&" in ORSA represents the insurer's "own" assessment of their current and future risks. Insurers and/or insurance groups are required to articulate their own judgment about risk management and the adequacy of their capital position. This is meant to encourage management to anticipate potential capital needs and to take proactive steps to reduce solvency risks. ORSA is not a one-off exercise-it is a continuous evolving process and should be a component of an insurer's enterprise risk-management (ERM) framework. Moreover, there is no mechanical way of conducting an ORSA; how to conduct the ORSA is left to each insurer to decide, and actual results and contents of an ORSA report will vary from company to company. The output will be a set of documents that demonstrate the results of management's self-assessment.[1]
See Also