Date: 27th September 2017
Author: BETTER FINANCE
Following the adoption of the Insurance Distribution Directive (IDD) [1], which was meant to improve the ‘protection of consumers and retail investors buying insurance products or insurance-based investment product’ [2] by ‘increasing transparency of price and costs of insurance products’ [3], by disclosing information on inducements and streamlining investment-related advice, the European Commission (EC) adopted today two Directives that provide further detail on the: (i) requirements for product oversight and governance (POG) [4]; and (ii) information requirements and conducts of business rules [5].
In addition to the Implementing Regulation concerning insurance product information document (IPID) [6], the Commission’s new rules for businesses set out specific obligations that should amount to a high standard of consumer protection.
These new obligations include prioritisation of consumer interest ‘when designing, developing and distributing’ insurance products as of 2018, updated standards on accepting inducements and for preventing conflicts of interests.[7]