2020-02-05
Finansinspektionen issued regulations amending its previous guidelines on information disclosure for insurance and occupational pensions to update definitions and structural requirements. The amendments repeal Appendix 1, renumber existing appendices, and clarify terms such as geometric mean and allocated bonus to enhance clarity for policyholders. These revised rules apply to insurance undertakings and third-country insurers operating in Sweden and entered into force on January 1, 2020.
Finansinspektionen’s Regulatory Code Publisher: Finansinspektionen, Sweden, www.fi.se ISSN 1102-7460 This translation is furnished solely for information purposes. Only the printed version of the regulation in Swedish applies for the application of the law. 1 Regulations amending Finansinspektionen’s regulations and general guidelines (FFFS 2011:39) regarding information about insurance and occupational pensions; decided on 10 December 2019. Finansinspektionen prescribes pursuant to Chapter 7, section 5 of the Insurance Business Ordinance (2011:257) with regard to Finansinspektionen’s regulations and general guidelines (FFFS 2011:39) regarding information that applies to insurance and occupational pensions in part that Appendix 1 shall be repealed, in part that current Appendices 2–4 shall be designated Appendices 1–3, and in part that Chapter 1, sections 1, 2 and 6, Chapter 2, section 2, and Chapter 5, section 1 shall have the following wording.
Finansinspektionen also provides the following general guidelines. Chapter 1 Section 1 These regulations and general guidelines contain provisions regarding – information that shall be provided to any party invited to take out insurance, – information that shall be provided to a policyholder and any party entitled to payment during the term of the insurance contract, – information that shall be provided to any party entitled to payment during the payout period, – information regarding occupational pensions that shall be provided to parties entitled to payment, – key investor information documents for private individual life insurance, and – calculation of the geometric mean. Section 21 These regulations apply to
1 The amendment entails in part that the third point in the first paragraph and the second paragraph have been removed. FFFS 2019:25 Published 17 December 2019
FFFS 2019:25 2 Section 62 In these regulations and general guidelines, the following definitions apply: allocated bonus: a bonus that is preliminarily distributed, inheritance profit: pension income or insurance capital due to the decease of an insured with an insurance that does not have full repayment cover or other survivor benefits which therefore go to other similar contracts, deposit insurance: traditional insurance that normally does not have guaranteed insurance amounts and for which the policyholder or the insured decides the saving profile by selecting one or more of the investment options offered by the insurance undertaking, party entitled to payment: a party entitled to payment as a result of the insurance, e.g. a policyholder, the insured or members and beneficiaries, transfer of an insurance policy’s value: given certain conditions, transfer of insurance capital to another insurance, from one insurance undertaking to another or from one type of management to another, paid-up policy: occupational pension insurance or private pension insurance where the agreed premium payments were prematurely terminated and the future pension is based on the premiums already paid, guaranteed bonuses: bonuses that are guaranteed in nominal or real amounts via the insurance contract or a unilateral commitment from the insurance undertaking, geometric mean: nth root of the product of the n positive numbers whose mean shall be calculated. In financial contexts, the numbers whose mean shall be calculated are normally written as 100 1 r where r is an effective yield or an interest rate expressed in per cent. This mean is a more accurate calculation of average yield or average interest rate than a normal arithmetic mean, insurance based on collective bargaining agreements: personal insurance or non-life insurance that is
2 The amendment entails that the term “parties entitled to information” has been removed.
FFFS 2019:25 3 occupational pension: a pension for an employee or survivor of an employee which is provided by the employer and based on a collective bargaining agreement or individual agreements between the employee and the employer, occupational pension insurance: life insurance which is linked to a professional activity and in which the disbursement of the sum insured (a lump sum or periodic disbursement) depends on one or more persons reaching or being expected to reach a particular age, and insurance policies issued as supplements to such life insurance policies. conditional bonus: agreed or unilaterally guaranteed bonus which is conditional upon changes in value and yield on assets or upon a certain actuarial result in respect to which the policyholders or other parties entitled to payment bear the risk, and surrender: disbursement to the policyholder of an amount that corresponds in full or in part to the value of the insurance before the end of the agreed insurance term. Chapter 2 Section 1 General provisions on the information covered by these regulations can be found in Chapter 4, section 2 of the Insurance Business Act (2010:2043) and Chapter 8, section 1a of the Undertakings of Foreign Insurers and Institutions for Occupational Retirement Provision in Sweden Act (1998:293). General guidelines The information should be designed such that it facilitates the decisions that a party intending to take out an insurance or a policyholder may need to make. It should be simple to gain an overview of the insurance policy’s most important characteristics and limitations. Information to be used as a basis for a decision that may need to be taken by a person intending to take out an insurance policy or a policyholder should be presented in consolidated form. The information should be provided in a document or in any other legible or durable form that is available to the recipient. However, this does not apply to such information as referred to in Chapter 5, section 2. For savings-type pension insurance and capital insurance, the information should clearly state the extent to which the level of the pension amount, insurance amount and any survivor benefits is guaranteed. For private individual life insurance products characterised by saving, the most important pre-purchase information should be provided in a key investor information document. The key investor information document should be structured using the headings set out in Appendix 2 and in such a manner as to make it easy for a consumer to compare similar products. If the average yield is calculated as the geometric mean, the comments about the method set out in Appendix 3 should be taken into account. Section 2 An insurance undertaking or a foreign insurer shall provide information to a policyholder and parties entitled to payment regarding
FFFS 2019:25 4 2. the name and address of the foreign insurer's representative for third party motor insurance in Sweden where the insurance is third party motor insurance and the insurer does not have a branch in the country. For business pertaining to non-life insurance, the information regarding the complete address as in point 1, where applicable, may be limited to the agent or branch providing the insurance. For operations with large risks in non-life insurance such as those set out in Chapter 3, section 16 of the Insurance Business Act (2010:2043), only the contract or other documents that provide insurance cover and the insurance application to the extent that it is binding for the application need to contain the information referred to in point 1. Chapter 5 Section 1 A life insurance undertaking’s information on life or occupational pension insurance shall, in addition to that which follows from sections 2 and 3 and Chapters 2–4, contain the information stated in Appendix 1.
These regulations shall enter into force on 01 January 2020. ERIK THEDÉEN Paula Asplund