EIOPA Call to Action for Insurers and Intermediaries to Mitigate the Impact of COVID-19 On Consumers

To the BIPAR member associations

Dear Members,

Today, EIOPA has published a call to action for insurers and intermediaries to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on consumers (see attached).

EIOPA expects all market participants to continue to act in the best interests of consumers, throughout the lifecycle of their relationship with the consumer. This is in line with the requirements on policyholder protection set out in relevant legislation such as Directive 2016/97 on Insurance Distribution (IDD) and Directive 2009/138/EC (Solvency II Directive).

In particular, EIOPA asks the following of insurers and intermediaries:

1. Provide clear and timely information to consumers on contractual rights.
2. Treat consumers fairly and be explicit in all communications.
3. Inform consumers about contingency measures that insurers and intermediaries are taking
4. Continue applying product oversight and governance (POG) requirements, taking into account the impact of the Coronavirus/COVID-19 outbreak; where necessary carry out a product review.
5. Consider the interests of consumers and exercise flexibility in how they are treated, where reasonable and practicable. In particular, the current situation may call for flexibility in terms of processes and timeframes to allow consumers to retain important coverage that would otherwise be lost.

BIPAR will analyse EIOPA’s call and, if necessary, prepare a public reaction.

We believe that BIPAR’s current statement for the press (see mail sent to you on 26 March) as well as the Joint Statement of the European Social Partners in the Banking and Insurance Sectors on the COVID-19 Emergency Crisis, published on 30 March and co-signed by BIPAR (see our mail sent on 30 March), are, as  first general statements, in line with EIOPA’s expectations for our sector (see attached).

• Joint statement of the European Social Partners in the Banking and Insurance Sectors on the COVID-19 Crisis
• BIPAR and COVID-19 Statement 
• Call to action for insurers and intermediaries to mitigate the impact of Coronavirus/COVID-19 on consumers

Kind regards,