Jurisdictional Issues of Cross-Border Insurance Portfolio Transfers: A comparative analysis

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is twofold: to introduce the harmonised EU-wide rules regulating transfer of insurance portfolios, and to show on the examples of several EU countries that despite a common EU framework, the national rules of the Member States differ substantially. As a result companies face problems with recognition of the transfers and incompatible requirements of various state supervisors. In certain cases they even have to go through two parallel processes in the country of transferor and transferee due to different interpretation of the EU and national legislation. However, majority, although not all, of the issues can be eliminated by increased harmonisation and more uniform implementation of the existing EU rules.
The study is carried out utilizing a combination of legal dogmatic, comparative law method and empirical analyses. Its results can be practically applied by those interested in accomplishing insurance portfolio transfers or as a starting point for further theoretical discussion.