Overview of Complaints at Insurance Providers in 2020

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Complaint Inquiry at Insurance Providers (2020) In February 2020, the AFM conducted its second annual inquiry into registered complaints among all insurance providers. This provided us with a great deal of relevant information that benefits both our supervision and market participants. We also shared the (aggregated) data with the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) for their annual Consumer Trends Report. The inquiry requested information on all complaints registered with insurance providers in 2019 (including complaints that were still open from before 2019). This report shares the key statistics from the AFM. This is the second year in which we have systematically inquired about complaints from insurance providers. Therefore, emerging developments can be shared. The inquiry will be repeated annually. Nearly 170,000 unique complaints In total, 176 insurance providers reported 169,469 complaints. This is an increase of almost 6% compared to last year.
Figure 1 - Total number of complaints divided by the sub-markets healthcare, property & casualty, and life 2019.
As in the previous year, half of the complaints (85,934 complaints) come from the healthcare sub-market (see Figure 1), which is also the largest sub-market measured by the number of policies and premium volume. This is followed by the sub-markets Property & Casualty (56,734 complaints) and Life (26,801 complaints). 26801 56734 85934 0 10000 20000 30000 40000 50000 60000 70000 80000 90000 100000 Life Property & Casualty Healthcare Total number of complaints per sub-market 2019 (total: 169,149)

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Figure 2 - Total number of complaints divided by sub-markets healthcare, property & casualty, and life 2018 and 2019
Figure 2 shows that the largest increase in the number of complaints is also in the healthcare sub-market. In the sub-markets Property & Casualty and Life, a slight decrease can be observed.
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0 10000 20000 30000 40000 50000 60000 70000 80000 90000 100000 Life Property & Casualty Healthcare Number of complaints per sub-market in 2018 and 2019 2018 (total: 160,010) 2019 (total: 169,149) Total number of complaints 2018 Total number of complaints 2019

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Figure 3 - Number of complaints divided by product categories (2018 and 2019)
Figure 3 shows a further division by product categories. Changes compared to last year can be seen here. After healthcare complaints, the most complaints fall into the categories Motor Vehicles, Fire & Business, and Other Property & Casualty. It is notable that only in the category Other Property & Casualty has the number of complaints decreased compared to last year. The product categories Life – other (other life insurance), Annuities (immediate pension), and Death Risk have the lowest number of reported complaints, with a decrease in complaints compared to last year.
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0 10000 20000 30000 40000 50000 60000 70000 Death Risk Annuities Life - other Liability Income Legal Assistance Life - savings Travel Life - investing Funeral Other Property & Casualty Fire & Business Motor Vehicles Healthcare - supplementary Healthcare - basic Number of complaints per product group 2018 and 2019 Total number of complaints 2018 Total number of complaints 2019

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Figure 4 - Percentage of complaints per complaint category divided by sub-markets (2019)
Figure 4 shows the global percentage distribution of complaints by service delivery phase in which the complaint arose, per market segment. In the Healthcare and Life sub-markets, the highest percentage of complaints falls into the category 'service delivery in the administration phase'. This is a somewhat broader category of complaints. This is followed by the category 'claims handling – payout'. In the Property & Casualty sub-market, this is reversed; there, the (small) majority of complaints concern 'claims handling – payout', followed by 'service delivery in the administration phase'.
Figure 5 – Average duration per product group in days
Finally, the average duration of a complaint is 14 days, calculated from the moment a consumer submits the complaint until it is handled. This means that there is no longer a complaint/expression of dissatisfaction. Figure 5 shows that the duration is longest for the product group 'annuities' (immediate pension) and shortest for travel insurance. 1151 3044 378 6839 2428 993 40269 22742 15464 1415 5645 379 36260 22875 9587 0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000 35000 40000 45000 Healthcare Property & Casualty Life Cause of complaint per sub-market Total number of complaints Acceptance Total number of complaints Intermediation - advisory Total number of complaints Service delivery administration phase Total number of complaints Employee Total number of complaints Claims handling - payout 34 29 22 19 18 17 16 13 12 11 9 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 Average duration per product group (days)

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Data Quality
The AFM attaches great importance to the quality of the data and paid extra attention to this in the analysis this year. To this end, we actively approached a small number of providers who had forgotten to re-report a small number of complaints still open from the previous year under the same complaint number. It was agreed with the providers that henceforth these complaints should be re-reported as open under the same complaint number or marked as completed, if applicable. The AFM will also pay attention to this next year. The same applies to providers who report 'zero' complaints. More information about the annual complaint inquiry In the annual complaint inquiry, the AFM requests information on ongoing, received, and closed complaints per year. The complaint inquiry is conducted among all insurance providers with a Dutch license and foreign providers with a branch office in the Netherlands. The requested information includes, among other things, duration, type of product, type of customer, and the main cause of complaints. The structure of the inquiry is granular, meaning that the provider reports per complaint. More general information about the complaint inquiry, such as about the design, the method of reporting, and used definitions, can be found on our website. Expansion and Optimization Based on new insights and experiences, the AFM optimizes its complaint inquiry annually where necessary. This includes, among other things, possibly sharpening and clarifying definitions further. Because the complaint inquiry is held annually, the AFM will show global trends and developments based on this. The data from the complaint inquiry helps the AFM shape its supervision more efficiently and effectively.