Following the receipt of enquiries and complaints, Austria’s Financial Market Authority FMA has corrected inaccurate statements of facts made by UNIQA Personenversicherung AG and Raiffeisen Versicherung AG about their insurance products “Zukunftsplan” and “Lebensaktie” in letters to customers. UNIQA Personenversicherung AG and Raiffeisen Versicherung AG unilaterally changed the investment strategy from “dynamic investment form” to “conservative” for some policies for these products, citing the following factually incorrect reasons in letters of notification:
UNIQA Personenversicherung AG (“Zukunftsplan”): “A special investment that differs from that of traditional Deckungsstock is no longer permitted by the Financial Market Authority.”
Raiffeisen Versicherung AG (“Lebensaktie”): “Due to a change to the Insurance Supervision Act in 2009 (Federal Law Gazette I no. 22/2009) there is no longer any separate investment strategy for these life assurance policies.”
The policies for the “Zukunftsplan” and “Lebensaktie” products are designed so that they (may) reflect a dynamic investment strategy that differs from that applied in the traditional Deckungsstock segment. With the amendment to the Versicherungsaufsichtsgesetz (VAG; Insurance Supervision Act) in 2009 (Federal Law Gazette I no. 22/2009), a separate Deckungsstock segment was expressly introduced for such categories of policy. This segment must be managed separately from the other traditional Deckungsstock segment.
The portfolio of these “investment-oriented life assurance products” at UNIQA Personenversicherung AG and Raiffeisen Versicherung AG was managed separately within the traditional life assurance Deckungsstock segment until 31 December 2009. As at 31 December 2009, a portion of the policies set up for the “Zukunftsplan” and “Lebensaktie” products was transferred to the Deckungsstock segment for investment-oriented life assurance, while the remainder was left in the traditional Deckungsstock segment and converted to the investment strategy of the other traditional Deckungsstock segment.
The decision to leave a portion of the policies for the aforementioned products in the traditional Deckungsstock segment and to assume the investment strategy existing in this segment was taken solely by UNIQA Personenversicherung AG and Raiffeisen Versicherung AG acting on their own authority. The change to the investment strategy for the “Zukunftsplan” and “Lebensaktie” policies that remained in the traditional Deckungsstock segment can, therefore, be attributed neither to the amendment of the Insurance Supervision Act of 2009 nor to a decision or legal position adopted by the FMA.
The FMA has called on both insurance undertakings to take the necessary steps to ensure compliance with the statutory provisions. Policyholders who do not agree with the unilateral change in the investment strategy should contact their insurer. If no mutually acceptable solution can be agreed with the insurance undertaking, recourse should be taken under the provisions available in civil law.
For further information please contact
Klaus Grubelnik (FMA Media Spokesperson)
+43/(0)1/24959-5106
+43/(0676)/882 49 516