Reporting requirement for insurance intermediaries to FINMA: where are the details?
With the introduction of new legal provisions in the Insurance Supervision Act (ISA) and the Supervision Ordinance (SO) from 1 January 2024, registered insurance intermediaries are obliged to report annually to FINMA. This will affect the 2024 financial year and thus for the first time the reporting at the end of 2024. The exact details for the reports are still missing.
In accordance with Article 190b paragraph 1 of the Supervision Ordinance (SO), FINMA records the relevant key figures and information on the activities of registered insurance intermediaries on an annual basis. This is collected from natural persons as well as legal entities and partnerships that offer or conclude insurance contracts.
The type of data collected depends on the size, type and risks of the intermediary’s activities (Art. 190b para. 4 ISO). This categorisation will be applied from the 2025 financial year, based on the intermediaries‘ registration data.
Basis for the technical implementing provisions
Article 190b para. 5 of the Insurance Ordinance authorises FINMA to define technical provisions for reporting. According to Article 93 of the FINMA Insurance Ordinance (FINMA IO), reports must be submitted by 31 May of each year for the previous financial year. FINMA defines the required key figures by 30 September of the respective year and makes this information available to the insurance intermediaries.
Reporting for the 2024 financial year
A reduced survey will be carried out for the 2024 financial year in order to gather important initial information. The corresponding survey will be published on the survey and application platform (SAP) in mid-December, along with a data entry tool. The deadline for submission is 31 May 2025.
Reporting for the 2025 financial year
The requirements for the 2025 financial year should largely correspond to those of 2024, although FINMA will differentiate the data more according to the size, type and risks of the brokerage activity. Changes will be made if necessary based on the findings of the 2024 survey.
Trouble for insurance brokers and IT companies
thebroker learned from an IT company that provides solutions for insurance brokers and SMEs that FINMA had still not provided the detailed information needed to update its program. When they contacted FINMA for more information, they were told that the key points of the new reporting process would be published on its website in 2023. But this is precisely where the problem lies. The information from 2023 is not sufficient to determine the details for the reports.
FINMA also writes that at the end of 2023, it also communicated on its website that insurance brokers would receive information in mid-December 2024 that the survey would be published on the EHP. They would also receive a survey aid. The survey must be submitted by 31 May 2025. The crux of the matter is that if data is to be output automatically from broker software, it must be recorded in advance. This is because the software manufacturers need enough time for the programming. Therefore, December 2024 is too late and there is still uncertainty as to whether all the details have been clarified and whether further specifications are needed.
Insurance brokers and the Swiss Insurance Brokers Association (SIBA) in the dark
thebroker also asked insurance brokers and SIBA, who feel left out in the cold because questions asked in writing to FINMA in connection with the reporting requirement are not answered promptly. FINMA usually takes weeks to respond. When making enquiries by telephone, the organisation is referred to the email address vermittler.aufsicht@finma.ch.
Perhaps FINMA could have foreseen that it would understandably receive a large number of enquiries. Timely information would certainly have been helpful.
thebroker