The Own Risk and Solvency Assessment is the insurer's own forward-looking view of the risks it faces and the capital it needs to meet them — the assessment that ties risk profile, strategy and the SCR together, carried forward under the UK's Solvency UK regime.
The ORSA is a firm's own assessment of its overall solvency needs, its continuous compliance with capital requirements, and how far its actual risk profile departs from the assumptions behind the SCR. It is forward-looking and owned by the board — not a regulatory return produced once and filed, but a living view that informs strategy and capital.
It continues under Solvency UK, the UK's reformed prudential regime for insurers. Firms should confirm the current Solvency UK rules, expectations and any transitional detail against the PRA's published materials.
Across the regime and supervisory expectations, an ORSA is generally expected to address, in outline:
The hard part of a good ORSA is that it has to be forward-looking, integrated and current — yet most firms assemble it once a year from siloed inputs that are stale by the time the document is signed.
Abgalis carries the seven risk domains in one live model wired to the Solvency UK balance sheet, so the ORSA's forward-looking and stress views draw on one current model and can be shown resolving to the SCR — with climate embedded where SS5/25 now expects it. It is analytics, not authority: the actuarial and risk functions own the ORSA and every capital judgement. See Abgalis for UK insurers, for Lloyd's managing agents, or the wider case in integrated ERM & climate.
The Own Risk and Solvency Assessment is an insurer's own forward-looking assessment of its overall solvency needs, its continuous compliance with capital requirements, and how far its risk profile departs from the assumptions behind the SCR. It is board-owned and used to inform strategy and capital, and it continues under Solvency UK.
Solvency UK is the UK's reformed version of the Solvency II prudential regime for insurers, following the review of retained EU law. The ORSA remains a core requirement, with the PRA's expectations set out in supervisory statement SS19/16; note the PRA still uses the term “Solvency II” across its materials. Firms should confirm the current rules and expectations against the PRA's published materials, as the detail has been subject to reform.
In outline: overall solvency needs across all material risks, the deviation of the risk profile from SCR assumptions, continuous compliance forward over the planning horizon, forward-looking stress and scenario testing, and genuine board ownership and use. The PRA's rules and expectations are the authoritative source.
Abgalis carries the seven risk domains in one live model wired to the Solvency UK balance sheet, so the forward-looking and stress elements of the ORSA draw on one current model and can be shown resolving to the SCR, with climate embedded. The actuarial and risk functions retain ownership of the ORSA and the numbers.
No. The ORSA is owned and signed off by the firm's board and its risk and actuarial functions. Abgalis provides the integrated model and analytics that inform it; it does not author, approve or take responsibility for the firm's ORSA or capital judgements.
Climate risk is expected to be embedded across the business and reflected in the ORSA where material — the direction of the PRA's SS5/25 expectations. Abgalis carries climate as one of the seven domains so it flows into the ORSA by construction rather than as a separate annex.
This page is a general explainer, not legal, regulatory or actuarial advice. Firms should refer to the PRA's published Solvency UK rules and ORSA expectations and take their own advice. Abgalis is a risk data and analytics provider and is not a regulated or authorised firm; accountability for the ORSA and all capital judgements remains with the insurer.
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