Self-regulation

What is self-regulation?

Insurers strive for the best quality for their customers. Self-regulation and monitoring contribute to this and strengthen the confidence of consumers and stakeholders. This self-regulation consists of a system of company regulations, covenants, protocols and codes of conduct. In order to keep up with (social) developments, self-regulation is regularly updated.

Uniform working method

Most schemes encourage a uniform way of working among insurers. By standardising and aligning processes, reports are processed faster, services are more transparent and members save costs. We record these agreements in self-regulation, which are periodically tested through a self-assessment.

Customer Interest Core Codes

A dozen schemes go further. This concerns, for example, the handling of privacy-sensitive data, the provision of clear information, the fight against fraud and the proper handling of claims and complaints. As of 2021, the insurance sector is one of the first sectors with an ethical framework for data applications; This is also contained in a code of conduct. Together, these ten Core Codes for Customer Interests form a quality standard for the sector; they are extensively tested by the independent Foundation for the Assessment of Insurers.

Benefits for insurer and policyholder

• Insurers are more actively involved in the development of self-regulation than in legislation. This usually makes the schemes workable and feasible. As a result, there is also a great deal of support.
• Self-regulation stimulates the sector's self-cleaning capacity: it keeps us on our toes and provides clarity about what we expect from each other.
• The rules we impose on ourselves help to protect the interests of our customers, to ensure that business processes run efficiently and to combat and prevent insurance fraud. This often saves us time and money.

For which insurers?

More than 60 regulations are binding on members of the Association. Some of this applies to all members of the Dutch Association. Another part is binding on a part of the sector, for example the non-life or life insurance branch. All binding regulations can be found in the Code Guide Binding Self-Regulation.

Other self-regulation is on a subscription basis and is not reviewed by the Foundation for the Assessment of Insurers (Stv). These can be found in the Code Guide for Subscription Covenants and Agreements.

Supervision of compliance by the Foundation for the Assessment of Insurers (Stv)

The rules that insurers agree with each other on self-regulation are not without obligation. The supervision of compliance with this is organised in various ways: the independent Foundation for the Assessment of Insurers (Stv) periodically assesses compliance with 53 binding regulations.

• The 8 Core Codes for Customer Interest are intensively tested by the Stv through research and company visits.
• For the 45 more process-oriented schemes, this is done through self-assessments.
• A small number of binding regulations are not reviewed by the STV, because these regulations are already being reviewed elsewhere.

Report on the accountability of self-regulation

The results of the assessment of self-regulation by the Foundation for the Assessment of Insurers (Stv) are compiled twice a year (February/March and June/July) in the Report on Self-Regulation Accountability.

The report zooms in on the results of the investigations carried out by the STV so far. The report also refers to the full reports and assessments of the Stv. In addition, the report looks ahead to the rules that the Stv will review in the current year.

Financial Services Complaints Institute and Insurers Disciplinary Board

Association members are required to be affiliated with the Financial Services Complaints Institute (Kifid). The Association has also set up the Disciplinary Board for Insurers. Both bodies base their independent statements on insurers partly on binding self-regulation by the Association.