THE 7th EDITION OF THE OBSERVATORY IDENTIFIES A POSITIVE TREND IN FAVOUR OF INSURANCE INTERMEDIARIES IN EUROPEAN CASE LAW

CGPA Europe conti­nues its efforts to pro­vide the pro­fes­sion with accu­rate stu­dies on the evo­lu­tion of Euro­pean case law affec­ting the pro­fes­sio­nal indem­ni­ty of insu­rance inter­me­dia­ries. The 7th edi­tion of the Obser­va­to­ry also focuses on regu­la­to­ry deve­lop­ments in Europe and key figures of the Euro­pean inter­me­dia­tion market.

CGPA Europe has once again col­lec­ted signi­fi­cant legal deci­sions across 7 coun­tries to enrich its data­base of Euro­pean case law. This data­base, dedi­ca­ted to the pro­fes­sio­nal indem­ni­ty of insu­rance inter­me­dia­ries, focuses this year on the scope of an intermediary’s duty to pro­vide infor­ma­tion and advice. In a posi­tive sign for the pro­fes­sion, the trend of the Euro­pean courts is to set rea­so­nable limits on the duties of inter­me­dia­ries. Indeed, from a French deci­sion spe­ci­fying that the duties impo­sed on inter­me­dia­ries do not require them to take any par­ti­cu­lar action if — mere­ly by rea­ding the poli­cy or endor­se­ment he signs — the insu­red is able to unders­tand for him­self the scope of the condi­tions of the poli­cy taken out, to an Irish deci­sion out­li­ning that the bro­ker does not have a duty to check the infor­ma­tion pro­vi­ded by his client and is the­re­fore not liable for any omis­sions or mis­re­pre­sen­ta­tions : this move­ment is to be applau­ded although dif­fe­rences in assess­ment and concepts conti­nue to exist in dif­ferent jurisdictions.

The “dos­sier” part deals with regu­la­to­ry deve­lop­ments in Europe, and in par­ti­cu­lar with the role of Euro­pean ombuds­men in dea­ling with claims against insu­rance inter­me­dia­ries ; sanc­tions by natio­nal control autho­ri­ties against insu­rance inter­me­dia­ries ; as well as the impact of the GDPR on the pro­fes­sion. CGPA Europe has com­mit­ted to a stu­dy of each of these sub­jects with the aim of pro­vi­ding a clea­rer unders­tan­ding of the envi­ron­ment in which Euro­pean insu­rance inter­me­dia­ries ope­rate on a day-to-day basis.

CGPA Europe also com­pletes its stu­dy on the changes in the dis­tri­bu­tion work­force in Europe, high­ligh­ting the vita­li­ty of the inter­me­dia­tion sec­tor faced to the gro­wing deve­lop­ment of direct sales and bank-insu­rance players. It is impor­tant to note that the Covid-19 pan­de­mic has affec­ted the figures usual­ly publi­shed by natio­nal super­vi­so­ry autho­ri­ties, most of which have had to post­pone their annual reports. The­re­fore, this new ver­sion of the Obser­va­to­ry focuses on five Euro­pean coun­tries for which data for which infor­ma­tion was avai­lable at the time of this report.

Click here to read the 7th edi­tion of the Observatory :