Complaints Inquiry 2026: Insurance Providers 2025 — AFM — NL

COMPLAINTS INQUIRY 2026
Complaints inquiry for insurance providers regarding 2025

In brief - In 2026, the AFM conducted its eighth annual inquiry into registered complaints among insurance providers. This inquiry yields significant relevant information that benefits both our supervision and market parties. We also share the (aggregated) data annually with the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) for their Consumer Trends Report. Through this report, the AFM links certain insights from the provided data back to insurance providers.

AUGUST | 2026

Complaints inquiry for insurance providers

Through the 'Complaints Inquiry 2026', the AFM requested information on all complaints registered with insurance providers in 2025, including complaints filed before 2025 that had not yet been resolved. This report shares the AFM's key figures and findings. This marks the eighth consecutive year in which the AFM has systematically requested data on complaints among insurance providers.

The information from the annual inquiry into registered complaints among insurance providers is of great importance for the AFM's supervision. The AFM uses this information, among other things, in determining supervisory priorities and identifying areas of attention. Although the requested data does not provide insight into the precise causes of developments in the complaint picture, notable trends, signals, and deviating results serve as a basis for discussions with providers and industry organizations.

Total 121,000 complaints

In total, 170 insurance providers in the Netherlands reported a total of 121,000 complaints. This is a decrease of 3.2% compared to last year, when 125,000 complaints were reported (see Figure 1). The AFM notes that the total number of complaints has been slowly decreasing annually since 2022.

Figure 1 Total number of complaints per year
Source: AFM
125000
136000
133000
125000
121000
110000
115000
120000
125000
130000
135000
140000
2021 2022 2023 2024 2025

Healthcare remains the segment with the most complaints

As in the previous year, the largest share of complaints (54,900) comes from the Healthcare segment (see Figure 2). This segment is also the largest in terms of number of policies and premium volume. Following this, as in previous years, are the Property & Casualty (53,700 complaints) and Life (12,600 complaints) segments.

Figure 2 Total number of complaints per segment
Source: AFM
12600
53700
54900
0 10000 20000 30000 40000 50000 60000 Life Property & Casualty Healthcare

Mixed picture in the development of complaint numbers per segment

Whereas in 2024 the number of complaints decreased in all segments, 2025 shows a more mixed picture. The Property & Casualty segment is the exception here: the number of complaints increased by 5.1% compared to the previous year. In the Life and Healthcare segments, the downward trend continued, with a decrease of 16.6% in the Life segment and a decrease of 6.8% in the Healthcare segment. The increase in Property & Casualty and the decrease in Healthcare have resulted in the number of Healthcare complaints now being only slightly higher than the number of Property & Casualty complaints (see Figure 3).

Figure 3 Development of complaint numbers per segment
Source: AFM
54900
58900
62700
63000
62500
53700
51100
53900
58500
49000
12600
15100
16300
14500
13500
0 10000 20000 30000 40000 50000 60000 70000 2025 2024 2023 2022 2021 2025 2024 2023 2022 2021 2025 2024 2023 2022 2021 Healthcare Property & Casualty Life

Within Life, the product group Annuities deviates from the downward trend

Figure 4 breaks down complaints by product group within the Life segment. Notably, the product group 'Annuities' is the only product group to show an increase in the number of complaints, with a rise of 7.8%, while the number of complaints in all other product groups decreased. The upward trend for 'Annuities' has been visible since 2022. A possible explanation for this is the aging population; the accumulating products are reaching their end dates and are being converted into products with periodic payouts (DIL or Pension variant). This also increases the number of customer contacts and the likelihood of complaints.

Figure 4 Development of complaint numbers by product group – Life
Source: AFM
100
220
2080
2620
530
910
930
890
930
900
1790
1660
1290
1120
1700
3210
3890
3220
2750
2700
3940
5160
5660
4540
5200
2660
3250
3140
2590
2500
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 2025 2024 2023 2022 2021 2025 2024 2023 2022 2021 2025 2024 2023 2022 2021 2025 2024 2023 2022 2021 2025 2024 2023 2022 2021 2025 2024 2023 2022 2021 Life - other Death risk Annuities Life - savings Life - investing Funeral

Development of complaints varies by product group within Property & Casualty

Figure 5 (on page 7) breaks down complaints by product group for the Property & Casualty segment. This shows that the development of complaint numbers by product group in 2025 varied. Of the nine product groups, six show an increase in the number of complaints, while three product groups show a decrease compared to 2024. The largest increases are Legal Expense Insurance with 24.8% and 'Other Damage' with 18.8%. The largest decreases are 'Gadget Insurance' with 31.6% and 'Fire and Business' with 12.4%. Notably, the product groups 'Travel' and 'Fire and Business' have shown a downward trend since 2022. Additionally, it is notable that Legal Expense Insurance has seen a continuous increase in complaints since 2021. The AFM will engage in discussions with market parties to determine the causes of this increase.

Figure 5 Development of complaint numbers by product group – Property & Casualty
Source: AFM
2240
2090
2200
2000
1900
8920
10180
13400
14800
11300
4
3
1060
1550
2040
1930
2000
2000
1800
16160
15010
14900
16900
12700
6650
5330
5200
4600
4400
5580
5690
6000
6200
4400
11110
9350
10100
12200
11300
0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000 14000 16000 18000 2025 2024 2023 2022 2021 2025 2024 2023 2022 2021 2025 2024 2025 2024 2025 2024 2023 2022 2021 2025 2024 2025 2024 2025 2024 2023 2022 2021 2025 2024 2023 2022 2021 2025 2024 2023 2022 2021 2025 2024 2023 2022 2021 Liability Fire & Business Cyber Gadget Income Motor Vehicles Legal Expense Travel Other Damage

Within Healthcare, the number of complaints decreases especially for supplementary health insurance

Figure 6 shows a breakdown of complaints by product group for the Healthcare segment. It can be seen that both for basic health insurance and supplementary health insurance, the number of complaints decreased in 2025 compared to 2024. The decrease was 0.4% and 29.6% respectively. While the number of complaints regarding supplementary health insurance shows a downward trend over the years, the number of complaints regarding basic health insurance fluctuates around a comparable level.

Figure 6 Development of complaint numbers by product group – Healthcare
Source: AFM
8730
12400
13500
15700
14800
46200
46400
49200
47700
47700
0 10000 20000 30000 40000 50000 60000 2025 2024 2023 2022 2021 2025 2024 2023 2022 2021 Healthcare supplementary Healthcare basic

Service in the administration phase and damage handling lead to the most complaints

Figure 7 shows the completed distribution of complaints by service phase in which the complaint arose, per segment. This shows that in the Healthcare segment, most complaints relate to the category 'Damage handling payout'. These are complaints arising during the handling of a damage claim, for example regarding the amount of a payout or the manner in which a damage is handled.

In the Life and Property & Casualty segments, most complaints relate to the category 'Service in administration phase'. These are complaints regarding service during the term of an insurance policy, such as the accessibility of the insurer or the failure to respond or late response to a consumer's request.

Figure 7 Number of complaints per segment divided by complaint cause
Source: AFM
620
28490
21090
820
3900
2470
22900
23050
3340
1990
240
2590
8890
140
750
0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000 Employee Damage handling payout Service in administration phase Acceptance Intermediation - advising Employee Damage handling payout Service in administration phase Acceptance Intermediation - advising Employee Damage handling payout Service in administration phase Acceptance Intermediation - advising Healthcare Property & Casualty Life

Average complaint duration drops to 15.5 days

Finally, it is notable that the 'average duration of a complaint' across all measured complaints is 15.5 days. This has decreased compared to last year (19.4 days). The number of days is calculated from the moment a consumer files the complaint until it is resolved. A complaint is considered resolved when there is no longer a complaint/expression of dissatisfaction. Figure 8 provides an overview of the average duration over the past five years. Figure 9 shows that the duration is longest for the product group 'Income' at 41 days and shortest for 'Healthcare basic' at 12 days.

Figure 8 Complaint duration per year
Source: AFM
Figure 9 Complaint duration in days by product group
Source: AFM
15,5
19,4
17
17,4
14,7
0 5 10 15 20 25
2025
2024
2023
2022
2021
12
12
13
14
15
16
19
20
20
25
29
29
41
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
Healthcare - basic
Travel
Healthcare - supplementary
Annuities
Cyber
Motor Vehicles
Other Damage
Gadget
Liability
Fire & Business
Death risk
Life - savings
Funeral
Legal Expense
Life - investing
Life other
Income

Data Quality

For the AFM, it is of great importance that the quality of the reported data is good. The AFM checks, among other things, whether ongoing complaints from the previous year are reported under the same complaint number. It is also checked whether all closed complaints have an end date and whether no negative durations are reported. In case of inaccuracies, the AFM has asked providers to correct the complaint data and resubmit it. Next year, the AFM will continue to pay attention to data quality, as well as to providers who report zero complaints without providing justification.

More information

In the annual complaints inquiry, we request information on ongoing, received, and closed complaints. The complaints inquiry is conducted among all insurance providers with a Dutch license and the largest foreign providers active in the Netherlands. The requested information includes, among other things, duration, product type, customer type, and main cause of complaints. The inquiry is designed to be granular, meaning providers report per individual complaint. More general information about the complaints inquiry, including the design, reporting method, and definitions used, is available on our website.

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