EU executive calls for review of bloc's insurance rules

LONDON (Reuters) - The European Union's financial services chief said on Friday he has asked the bloc's insurance watchdog to look at ways to change EU insurance rules to help encourage investment.

The bloc's financial services commissioner Jonathan Hill said the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) would report back to him by June.

The aim of the request was to look at "whether we can change the calibration to support investment", Hill told a conference.

EIOPA has already looked at ways to tweak EU insurer capital rules, known as Solvency II, to make it easier for insurers to buy securitised debt to raise funds for economic growth.

He said he will publish a discussion paper towards the end of the year on giving consumers access to a better choice and "keener prices" in retail financial products.

Hill is putting together plans for a Capital Markets Union, a pan-EU effort to increase the ability of markets to raise funds for growth as banks rein in lending.

(Reporting by Huw Jones; editing by David Clarke)