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This opinion is addressed to the National Competent Authorities (NCAs). It is recognised that not all NCAs may have the competence to establish such arrangements. In these cases, with the overview of national experience available, those NCAs are offered a common basis for promoting this EIOPA initiative further vis-a-vis the relevant national competent authorities.
This opinion outlines the different beneficiary protection approaches already in place in some Member States, that are aimed at ensuring tangible gains for consumers by avoiding that policies are not paid out to beneficiaries where due.
The objective of the opinion is not to adopt a stringent approach subject to which all competent authorities are suggested to facilitate the establishment or, as the case may be, adjustment to existing arrangements structured according to absolute specific criteria, but to ensure that beneficiaries of life insurance policies enjoy sufficient protection. To achieve this goal, any arrangement should, where relevant, be subject to proper supervisory controls.
It is stressed that any type of arrangement must comply with the data protection rules of the given country recalling that personal data are protected under the existing EU legal framework, as transposed into the national legislation of the Member States.
Finally, it is stressed that, depending on the set up of the arrangement, it could have considerable cost implications. This needs to be taken into account by those Member States, which do not yet have an arrangement in place but are contemplating to establish one.