What is insurance mediation?
Insurance mediation is a concept that encompasses significantly more than ensuring that a customer and an insurance company conclude a contract. Insurance mediation requires authorization from and comes under the supervision of the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority.
Insurance meant is meant to professionally:
• submit and propose insurance contracts or perform other preparatory work before insurance contracts are concluded.
• on someone else's behalf propose insurance contracts or assist with the management and fulfillment of contracts,
• assist with the management and fulfillment of contracts.
Insurance intermediaries can conduct their business as follows:
• provide advice based on an impartial analysis, that is to say, the advice is based on an analysis of a sufficiently large number of insurance contracts,
• via contracts undertake to mediate insurance policies exclusively on behalf of one or more insurance companies or
• mediate insurance policies from one or more insurance companies without performing an impartial analysis and without there being contracts with insurance companies.
The insurance intermediary can also act as a tied insurance intermediary to an insurance company. This means that the intermediary has signed a contract with one or more insurance companies to mediate insurance products on their behalf. The products offered by a tied insurance intermediary may not compete with each other. The insurance company is liable for such mediation performed by a tied insurance intermediary. The intermediary's customer should always be informed about the way the intermediary works. An intermediary who is a member of the SFM (Swedish Insurance Intermediaries’ Association) generally provides advice based on an impartial analysis. In exceptional cases, and in relation to a particular product or segment of the market, a member of the SFM may operate without an impartial analysis forming the basis of the advice given to the customer. As a member of the SFM, an insurance intermediary can be an affiliated agent for securities companies, but however not for insurance companies.
Intermediaries providing advice based on an impartial analysis have a special role that enables the customer to obtain a tailor-made selection from the entire market's range. The insurance intermediary’s liability insurance is compulsory and connects back to the concept of mediation. Intermediaries who do business in addition to insurance mediation do not have compulsory liability insurance for that business.