2024-01-03 20:46:18
From January 1, 2024, insurance brokers are subject to new rules towards their clients, particularly in terms of transparency. From now on, they will have to, for example, announce the amount of commissions they receive.
Since the beginning of the year, a new version of the Federal Insurance Supervision Act (LSA) has been applied, requiring brokers to be more transparent towards their clients: for each contract, they must now clearly announce the amount they receive from insurance.
“From January 1, we are obliged, as soon as an insurance contract is proposed, to give an estimate of the remuneration that we can receive as a broker,” explains Pascal-Henri Vuilleumier, member of the Association committee. des Courtiers en Assurance (ACA), in the show We’re talking regarding it. After the conclusion of the contract, we are also obliged to report to our clients on the remuneration actually received on their account during the financial year.”
Good news for customers and unrelated agents
If customers are now better protected, for Pascal-Henri Vuilleumier, this is also good news for brokers not linked to insurance. “A ‘tied’ agent is in some way an insurance agent, or an independent linked to contracts obliging him to sell products for insurance. In contrast, an ‘untied’ agent is completely independent of insurance companies.”
Another new feature is that a principle is now enshrined in law: that of loyalty. “Either the agent is loyal to his client, or he is loyal to an insurance company with which he has a contract. Previously, the positioning of the broker was not guaranteed,” specifies Pascal-Henri Vuilleumier.
Finally, from January 1, only independent brokers will be recognized by FINMA, the Federal Financial Market Supervisory Authority. “To be more precise, the public register available on the FINMA website lists linked and unrelated intermediaries until December 31, 2023. This will no longer be the case from January 1, 2024, where only unrelated ones can be registered in the register”, continues Pascal-Henri Vuilleumier. Thus, clients wishing to check the quality of their broker will be able to do so by consulting the FINMA website.
Radio topic and comments collected by Marie Tschumi
Adaptation web: Myriam Semaani
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