Life insurers and insurance brokers
Life insurers and insurance brokers are obliged to report unusual transactions to FIU-the Netherlands. This is provided for in the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Prevention) Act (Wwft BES). You are required to report both completed transactions and transactions that have not yet been completed (intended transactions). This way you contribute to the fight against money laundering, predicate offences and terrorist financing.
Life insurance: contract of insurance to provide monetary benefits in connection with human life or death, excluding accident insurance contracts.
Brokerage: performing activities as an intermediary in the course of a profession or business aimed at:
a. concluding agreements on a financial product between the provider of that product and a consumer or client;
b. concluding transactions in securities on behalf of a client;
c. assisting in the management or execution of such agreements or transactions.
Premium: monetary quid pro quo payable by the policyholder under an insurance contract.
Matters covered by the activities of Life insurers and insurance brokers under the Wwft-BES are:
- Concluding or mediating in the conclusion of life insurance at a premium as referred to in the BES Financial Markets Act.
Exceptions:
Article 7
The indicators under this regulation are not applicable to the fulfilment of pension undertakings made by an employer to employees connected to the employer’s company:
- insurance contracts have been concluded by the employer with an insurer authorised to conduct the business of a life insurer under the BES Financial Markets Act
- contracts as referred to in subsection a have been concluded by the employees themselves, enabled by the employer in whole or in part.
For the application of the provisions of subsection 1, the terms “pension”, “employee” and “employer” and “company” shall be assigned the same meaning as the corresponding terms listed in Section 1(1) and (2) of the BES Pensions Act.
Article 8
The indicators are also not applicable in respect of:
- the conclusion of contracts of insurance by a pension fund as referred to in Section 1(1) of the BES Pensions Act to transfer or reinsure the risk arising from the obligations assumed by the pension fund
- the conclusion of contracts of life insurance and other insurance without a paid-up or surrender value
- transactions for which only an offer has been made that has not yet been accepted by the policyholder.
Matters covered by the activities of Life insurers and insurance brokers under the Wwft-BES are:
Making a payment under a life insurance policy as referred to under concluding or brokering a life insurance policy at a premium as referred to in the BES Financial Markets Act.
Exceptions:
Article 7
The indicators to this scheme shall not apply in cases of fulfilment of pension undertakings made by an employer to employees connected to the employer’s company:
- insurance contracts have been concluded by the employer with an insurer authorised to conduct the business of a life insurer under the BES Financial Markets Act
- contracts as referred to in subsection a have been concluded by the employees themselves, enabled by the employer in whole or in part.
- For the application of the provisions of subsection 1, the terms “pension”, “employee” and “employer” and “company” shall be assigned the same meaning as the corresponding terms listed in Section 1(1) and (2) of the BES Pensions Act.
Article 8
The indicators are also not applicable in respect of:
- the conclusion of contracts of insurance by a pension fund as referred to in Section 1(1) of the BES Pensions Act to transfer or reinsure the risk arising from the obligations assumed by the pension fund
- the conclusion of contracts of life insurance and other insurance without a paid-up or surrender value
- transactions for which only an offer has been made that has not yet been accepted by the policyholder.
When do I report a transaction?
You are required by law to be alert to the transactions and actions of your customers, and to report unusual transactions. As an employee of a trust and company service provider, you know what is common in your industry. You are therefore best positioned to assess whether a transaction is unusual and may be related to money laundering, predicate offences or terrorist financing. That underlines the importance of your professional judgment.
There are transactions that you should always report, regardless of the circumstances. These are transactions that meet the objective indicators. An overview of all the indicators that help you to assess transactions is given below. In addition, the general guidelines of the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Justice and Security and the guidelines of The Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM) provide pointers on complying with the law. AFM is your supervisor and monitors your compliance with your obligations under the Wwft BES.
What indicators help me to assess transactions?
There are 7 indicators that may apply to life insurers and insurance brokers. They will help you determine whether you should file a report with FIU-the Netherlands. You must always report transactions that meet the objective indicator. For the subjective indicator, it is particularly important that you assess whether a transaction is unusual.
The literal description of the indicators is given below. Use the codes in front of the indicators when reporting an unusual transaction. If your report is based on a subjective indicator, it is important to include a detailed description of the transaction and explain why you suspect money laundering or terrorist financing.
Services referred to in sections a to d, g, i and p to w of Schedule A to the Act.
XSubjectief01 - "A transaction where the service provider has reason to believe that it may be related to money laundering or terrorist financing."
XObjectief01 – " It is logical that transactions reported to the police or the Public Prosecution Service in connection with money laundering or terrorist financing should also be reported to the Financial Intelligence Unit; after all, there is an assumption that these transactions may be related to money laundering or terrorist financing."
XObjectief13 - "Life insurance policies for which the initial premium payment or the single premium exceeds USD 11,000."
XObjectief14 - "Life insurance policies for which the initial premium payment or the single premium exceeds USD 6,000 in cash.
XObjectief15 - "The premium/single premium payment exceeds USD 140,000."
Services referred to in section f of Schedule A to the Act
XObjectief16 - "A cash payment in excess of USD 11,000."
XObjectief17 - "A payment in excess of USD 50,000 into an account at a bank outside the public entities of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba within five years of the conclusion of the insurance. "
Do you believe that a completed or intended transaction meets one or more of these indicators? If so, you are legally obliged to report it to us. Reports based on the subjective indicator may, for example, concern customers who refuse to identify themselves.
What happens to an unusual transaction?
An institution that has reported an unusual transaction receives an automatic message, i.e. an acknowledgement of receipt. This is important in connection with indemnification. We will investigate this unusual transaction. If we declare the transaction suspicious after investigating it, it is made available to investigative, intelligence and security services. They conduct a further investigation based on their own priorities.