Frankfurt, 23 March, 2011 – The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) launched today the second Europe-wide stress test for the insurance sector. The stress test is conducted in cooperation with the respective national supervisory authorities and will be carried out until end of May, based on 2010 financial results. EIOPA expects to publish the aggregated results of this exercise in July 2011. The test is targeted towards the European insurance sector and will include a minimum of 50% of insurance companies per country measured by gross premium income. The Swiss Financial Market Authority (Finma) has decided to join the stress test in addition to member states of the European Union and European Economic Area (EEA).