France Assureurs on Wednesday invited its members to strengthen the examination of the prices of financial products sold to policyholders, two days after a warning from the regulator concerning the sometimes expensive costs of life insurance contracts.
In life insurance, the policyholder can subscribe to a choice of funds in euros, with a capital guarantee but a limited return, or units of account (UC), potentially more profitable financial products, but more risky.
It is the latter who were pinned on Monday by the Prudential Control and Resolution Authority (ACPR).
Consequently, the federation invited insurers to compare the costs of each UC with a reference level, for example the average of the costs of UCs belonging to a coherent set, such as the same category of risk indicator, according to a press release.
When the costs of a UC are significantly higher than this average, for example by more than 50%, it could be useful to examine its performance net of costs compared to UCs of the same category, continues France Assureurs, which refers to a threshold 33% for units of account in the process of being integrated into contracts.
In the event of poor performance, the insurer could decide to stop offering this product, underlines the federation in a very cautious formulation.
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On Monday, the vice-president of the ACPR Jean-Paul Faugre had stressed that the accumulation of high costs can in certain cases reduce any hope of return, the potential return on investment ultimately only benefiting financial intermediaries. .
He had called for a movement of professionals on the subject.