AXA Life Europe DAC (ALE) has been reprimanded and fined by the Central Bank of Ireland over three regulatory breaches that have all been admitted by the insurer.
Outlined below are ALE’s contraventions of the European Communities (Life Assurance) Framework Regulations 1994, the Corporate Governance Requirements, and the Solvency II Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/35.
The first one relates to how Irish-based ALE, between 2006 and 2019, failed to have effective processes or sound and adequate internal control mechanisms in order to identify, manage, monitor, and report the risks to which it was or might be exposed.
The risks had to do with the TwinStar insurance product that was sold by ALE’s German branch. The life insurer stopped underwriting new TwinStar policies in 2012, and its German unit was closed two years later.
“Between 2006 and 2007,” noted the Central Bank, “policy documentation in relation to the TwinStar policies referenced a parental claims guarantee (PCG), which had been provided by AXA S.A., ALE’s parent company, to provide ALE with the necessary resources to pay all outstanding German policyholder claim liabilities, if ALE became unable to do so itself.
“The PCG was provided because ALE could not participate in the insolvency protection scheme for German life insurance companies… In 2006, BaFin (the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority) wrote to ALE’s German branch, stating that the references to the PCG in some policy documentation suggested greater security than that which was actually being provided.”
It was pointed out that some policy documentation failed to make clear that the PCG was conditional and could terminate automatically upon meeting certain conditions.
According to the financial regulator in Ireland, although references to the PCG were removed from policies issued from 2008, ALE – despite being notified by BaFin – did not identify, manage, monitor, and report risks arising from the 30,000 policies or various marketing materials, broker documentation, and customer information which had already been issued.
The original fine imposed by the watchdog was €5.2 million. In accordance with the early settlement discount scheme, the amount was reduced by 30% to €3.64 million. According to the Central Bank, ALE made early admissions to the three breaches and also provided the expected level of cooperation during the regulator’s probe.
Commenting on the failures, Central Bank enforcement and anti-money laundering director Seána Cunningham stated: “It is important that firms identify, assess, and manage the risks to which they are or might be exposed, to ensure that they can meet their commitments to consumers.
“ALE’s weak internal control framework meant that it failed to identify and monitor a cohort of policies in relation to which policy-related documentation was unclear, despite having been made aware of concerns in this regard. This failure meant that ALE was unable to inform its policyholders of information which was relevant to them.”
Cunningham continued: “Firms must also manage conflicts of interest appropriately and establish and apply robust mechanisms for doing so. Conflicts of interest are an inherent risk to all regulated entities and, when not properly managed, they pose a risk to consumers and diminish market integrity.”
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