The amount of insurance commissions paid to insurance intermediaries for the placement of life insurance contracts has been a thorn in the side of consumer protection groups and the German insurance regulator BaFin for years. Another area which came increasingly in the focus of the regulator’s attention are payment protection policies and the related remuneration models. However, the associations of insurers and intermediaries consider a cap on commissions to be unconstitutional and in conflict with…

Update of 25 February 2019: The German draft act laying the ground for a limited transitional regime for UK financial services firms including insurers and reinsurers following a hard Brexit has passed the German parliament (Bundestag) on 21 February 2019 without any amendments regarding the transitional regime for UK insurers and reinsurers. The required approval by the German Bundesrat is expected to be granted within short without further amendments. The act will come into force…

Insurers and other insurance distributors faced significant challenges while implementing the requirements of the German law transposing the Insurance Distribution Directive (IDD). Even though the IDD was transposed into German law as of 23 February 2018, several details were not yet available due to outstanding regulations. The new German regulation, i.e. the German Insurance Distribution Regulation, effective as of 20 December 2018 (and largely corresponding to a draft thereof published in June 2018) provides guidance…

Insurers and other insurance distributors will face significant challenges while implementing the requirements of the German law transposing IDD. Impacts on distribution models, training requirements and increased duties and obligations in distribution will need to be considered. In addition, there are a number of compliance issues, such as conflicts of interest, cross-selling and considerations regarding the commission structure. With regard to insurance products there are also new requirements, such as product oversight and governance (e.g.…

The legislation transposing the IDD into German law has been passed (as resolved by the German Parliament on 28 June 2017 and by the Federal Council of Germany on 7 July 2017). One of many changes will be that the transposed IDD will be applicable to all insurance distributors (Versicherungsvertreiber), including insurers. In addition to transposing the IDD generally, a few German specific aspects including the ones highlighted below have been added at the final…

A new decision by the Munich Higher Regional Court gives significant guidance for online insurance distribution activities which anticipates some of the new requirements under the Insurance Distribution Directive. The court held that aggregators such as Check24 have to better inform and advise their website users before they conclude an insurance contract online. In particular, they should inform about policy exclusions and ask respective questions in order to find out the customer’s requirements. The court…

On 10 March 2017 the German Financial Services Supervisory Authority (Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht – BaFin) published a guidance note on setting up health insurance companies in Germany under the new provisions implementing Solvency II. In contrast to most other EU member states, German regulated private health insurers are not permitted to offer products of any other line of life or non-life business. What makes these guidelines even more relevant is the fact that – except for…