Net policy
Net policies (also: net tariffs , net products , fee tariffs ) are insurance policies , the premiums of which do not contain any commission for brokering the insurance contract. Rather, the policyholder undertakes in a separate fee agreement to pay a fee directly to the broker. Legally, there are two independent contracts : on the one hand the insurance contract as such, on the other hand the fee agreement. Here, however, a distinction must be made between more or less flexible and effort-dependent fee agreements in the true sense, where the customer pays for the consulting service, and so-called agency fees or remuneration agreements, in which a fixed price is agreed for the mere brokerage of an insurance contract.
Definitions
A uniform, legally binding definition of net policies does not yet exist in Germany. The Federal Supervisory Office for Insurance (BAV) - today: Federal Financial Supervisory Authority ( BaFin ) - defines net tariffs as “tariffs free of acquisition costs, in which no commission is included.” However, according to the University of Cologne, this definition falls short. Accordingly, "a net tariff is a tariff that does not include commission or brokerage costs, nor any costs associated with them."
Criticism of commission-based insurance rates
The core of a net policy is the departure from the commission model. On the one hand, it is criticized that insurance brokers are made financially dependent on the successful conclusion of contracts through the payment of commissions. Because they only get their commission when they broker an insurance contract. This makes independent customer advice difficult. On the other hand, insurance companies usually take the costs for agency commissions from the policyholder's contributions. The investment amount is reduced by the amount of the commission. Another point of criticism against the commission model is that this process is not clearly explained to the insured in practice. The costs of their insurance product therefore remain intransparent for many policyholders.
Relevance for the insurance customer
Net tariffs can help
- to increase the independence of the consulting service by the intermediary, since the intermediary is remunerated directly by the customer.
- To increase the cost transparency of insurance products, as the customer learns what the advice will cost him.
In contrast to classic commission products, with net policies the commission for the conclusion of the contract is paid directly by the customer. On the basis of a fee agreement, he receives an individually agreed fee from him (see fee advice ). In contrast to the commission model, this is also independent of the continuation of the insurance contract: the consulting fee - or in particular the agent commission - must therefore continue to be paid even if the insurance is shut down or canceled - which many policyholders overlook. However, the BGH has declared this contract structure to be fundamentally permissible in several rulings, as it corresponds to the classic brokerage contract. A decision on the effectiveness of a fee agreement has not yet been made in individual cases. B. a breach of the comprehensive advisory obligations of an insurance broker (including from § 60 VVG) lead to the ineffectiveness of a fee agreement. This can have the consequence that a policyholder who has not been adequately informed is not obliged to pay, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, can claim back amounts that have already been paid. It should also be noted that in many of the cases decided by the Federal Court of Justice, the intermediaries were viewed as insurance brokers. Therefore, this case law is not directly applicable to insurance agents (for the terms see 2008 / 59.html § 59 VVG). According to current BGH rulings, insurance agents are obliged to inform their customers explicitly and clearly of the special features of this contract structure, which is still rare.
The agreement of a fee instead of the usual brokerage fee also has financial advantages for the policyholder due to tax law peculiarities. The insurance premium is reduced by the brokerage share and thus also the insurance tax. At the same time, the fee agreements are not yet subject to sales tax, so that the policyholder also has savings if the fee would correspond exactly to the brokerage fee. Below is an example for clarification:
- Insurance premium, net: 100 EUR
- Brokerage included in this: 20 EUR
- Gross premium (at 19% insurance tax): EUR 119
- Net insurance premium: 80 EUR
- Gross premium (at 19% insurance tax): EUR 95.20
Even if a fee of EUR 20 is agreed, the policyholder still has a saving of approx. EUR 4.80 without the insurance intermediary or the insurance company having any lower income. In the case of the net tariff, however, the commission to be paid separately must be added. However, the closing costs are not deductible as business expenses, as has often been claimed, cf. the decision of BFH VIII B 90/10 of October 28, 2010.
Supply situation in Germany
Within Germany, net policies are primarily available in the life lines (e.g. life insurance , company pension , occupational disability ) and, to a lesser extent, also for composite and health insurance. Overall, the share of net tariffs in the product portfolio of German insurers is still low. Net policy providers include myLife Lebensversicherung AG, Baden-Badener Versicherung AG, Condor Versicherungen, Interrisk, Skandia Versicherung, Standard Life and the Volkswohlbund. The market leader in this segment is, however, the Luxembourgish Atlanticlux SA, which also has a branch in Germany.
In addition to the aforementioned situation in private customer business, fee-based advice has already become widespread in industrial insurance and is to be regarded as the standard in large corporations. The spread results both from a more taxable remuneration of the insurance broker (e.g. fee depending on the workload instead of a flat brokerage fee) as well as from the aforementioned tax reasons. Insurance intermediaries can also compete on the amount of the fee. By agreeing a lower fee, the total burden on the customer for insurance matters is reduced, even if the insurance premium itself remains unchanged.
Here, however, a clear distinction must be made between commission-free net policies in the true sense, for which the customer pays a fixed fee for brokering, and fee-based advice, for which the broker receives a fee for his consulting work.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Matthias Beenken, Bernhard Brühl, Petra Pohlmann , Heinrich R. Schradin, Nina Schroeder, Sabine Wende: Net rate offer of German insurance companies in the private customer business , Institute for Insurance Science at the University of Cologne, 2011. (PDF; 145 kB), accessed on February 22 2012
- ↑ Stiftung Warentest: Fee-based advice - all costs on the table , in: Finanztest 02/2008, accessed on February 4, 2013
- ↑ Fee concept - fee advice works - for everyone ( Memento from December 20, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ last: BGH judgment III ZR 269/06 of June 14, 2007
- ^ Beenken, Matthias; Brühl, Bernhard; Pohlmann, Petra; Schradin, Heinrich R .; Schroeder, Nina; Wende, Sabine (2011): Net rate offer of German insurance companies in the private customer business, Institute for Insurance Science at the University of Cologne (PDF; 145 kB), accessed on February 22, 2012