You’ve been informed that your insurance company is changing in relation to Brexit?

In preparation for the United Kingdom’s potential (forthcoming) withdrawal from the European Union (Brexit), a large number of British insurance undertakings have decided to transfer the insurance contracts held by Austrian customers to an insurance undertaking in another EEA signatory state.

The process is as follows: The British supervisory authority informs that FMA that Austrian customers are affected by an impending portfolio transfer and at the same time confirms that the planned portfolio transfer is legally permissible. The supervisory authority of the acquiring insurance undertaking checks and confirms its solvency. The key point is that it has sufficient own funds.

Where the FMA does not have any objections to the planned transfer then this is communicated to the supervisory authority of the acquiring insurance undertaking. In addition it is also mentioned that every individual affected insurance policyholder must be informed and that generally, with a few exceptions, a termination right exists at the end of the current insurance period.

The United Kingdom has created a national compensation scheme (FSCS), which is intended to cover claims from life insurance in the event of an insolvency. Whether a compensation scheme exists in the country of the acquiring insurance undertaking, and if so which one, must be clarified on a specific case-by-case basis. There is no harmonised legal situation within the EU with regard to such a compensation scheme.