Finansinspektionen: Remuneration And Conflicts Of Interest In Swedish Insurance Intermediaries

Finansinspektionen (FI) has conducted an in-depth analysis of remuneration and conflicts of interest at insurance intermediaries that distribute life insurance and savings insurance. The objective of the in-depth analysis has been to gain more in-depth knowledge about the insurance intermediary market’s remuneration structure, how commissions and other remuneration are received, and the conflicts of interest that could arise.

The analysis shows that some insurance intermediary firms receive third-part remuneration without having provided any advice and that some third-party remuneration cannot be linked to a customer. Often, insurance intermediaries use only a few insurance providers when choosing an insurance provider, particularly when transferring insurance. In addition, the analysis shows that transfer remuneration represents a high share of the insurance intermediary firms’ earnings and that some of the one-off remuneration payments to insurance intermediary firms are high. More than half of the employed advisors hold options or ownership in the insurance intermediary firms, and in some cases other remuneration to advisors is higher than the fixed salary.

FI would also like to emphasise through this report the importance of insurance intermediary firms having procedures for identifying and managing conflicts of interest that could arise within their operations.

Remuneration and conflicts of interest in Swedish insurance intermediaries ( < 1MB)