The Portuguese Insurance Regulator has published its 2025 report on market conduct regulation and supervision for insurance and pension funds, setting out the main conduct risks it identified and the supervisory response. The report highlights six recurring risks across the product life cycle: poor value for money in insurance products, lack of transparency and complexity in health insurance, weak product design and business model alignment, restrictive assistance insurance terms, inefficient claims handling, and retirement protection gaps linked to insufficient long-term savings. The report shows a more risk-based supervisory focus in 2025. The Portuguese Insurance Regulator cites two regulatory standards, two recommendations, one circular and five public consultations, alongside 32 on-site and 2,424 off-site supervisory actions, 24 recommendations, 232 specific determinations, 57 new cases with indications of administrative offenses and 28 new administrative offense proceedings. Substantively, it says analysis of unit-linked products identified a set of products with potential value for money risks and that some insurers' product oversight and governance policies were formally compliant but implemented inconsistently in practice. In health insurance, the authority issued recommendations to distinguish health insurance from health plans, adopted standard health insurance conditions to support comparability, and launched a health insurance portal and observatory. It also flagged practices in assistance insurance that shift liability to consumers during towing services, and said claims delays in home multi-risk insurance prompted recommendations on claims settlement timelines. On pensions, it said no greenwashing cases were identified in 2025 supervisory work, although changes were requested to clarify pre-contractual disclosures, and it launched a comparison platform for retirement savings plans. Looking ahead, the Portuguese Insurance Regulator says a supervisory action plan is being developed for products identified in its value for money screening, after a second-stage review of product features. It also says that in 2026 it is developing actions to address unsuitable sales and possible conflicts of interest in credit-linked insurance, and will continue work on assistance insurance practices and regulatory simplification, including a priority review of reporting obligations under its +Simples program.

Original source Back to tracker