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2026-08-24

Added 2026-09-07

Complaints Inquiry 2026: Insurance Providers 2025

The AFM published the eighth annual complaint inquiry for insurance providers regarding registered complaints in 2025, reporting a total of 121,000 complaints, a 3.2% decrease from the previous year. The Healthcare segment accounted for the highest volume with 54,900 complaints, while the Life segment saw a 16.6% decline and the Property & Casualty segment experienced a 5.1% increase. The average complaint handling time decreased to 15.5 days, and the AFM continues to enforce data quality standards by requiring corrections for inaccuracies and justification for zero-complaint reports.

Netherlands

Autoriteit Financiele Markten

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.