07 February 2013

EBF preliminary position on the European Commission proposal for an Insurance Mediation Directive (Recast)

Key points:

• The European Banking Federation would like to stress that any new regulation should be consistent with the existing legislation such as Consumer Credit Directive as well as with the ongoing revision of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II). It should not create significant additional costs without the certainty that added value to the customer will be provided.
• The EBF believes that the requirement on the ban on tying may not be in the interest of the consumer as it will ultimately limit this practice as well as consumer choice quite significantly, with the requirement for the distributor to offer each of the different components of the insurance package separately.
• One of the main objectives of the directive is to provide better information to consumers. The EBF believes that the information on the amount of the remuneration being received by the intermediary is excessive. In general, customers are interested to know the exact insurance coverage acquired and its real scope.
• The EBF considers that the definition of “advice” is too broad. Advice should mean the provision of a recommendation, tailored to a single customer for one or more specific products, which represents a separate activity from the mediation of insurance products. With this in mind, the definition of “advice” should be adapted and aligned with the definition provided in MiFID 2 and the Directive on Credit Agreements Relating to Residential Property (CARRP).

The EBF is also critical as regards the proposed differentiation between advice provided on an independent or a non-independent basis (Article 24.3).

The EBF takes note of the publication of the European Commission’s proposal for a Directive on Insurance Mediation (recast) which aims to improve regulation in the retail insurance market.

The EBF welcomes the initiative of the European Commission to create a level playing field with undistorted competition in the insurance mediation sector within the European internal market. Nevertheless, the EBF would like to stress that when creating an integrated market, it is necessary to take into account the peculiarities of the sales’ structures that exist in individual Member States.

In addition, the EBF believes it is important to ensure a high level of protection for all consumers purchasing insurance products. Nonetheless, some points of the proposal should be adjusted and adapted to the current market reality.

Full response

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