The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority used an industry symposium in Bern to give its first broad stocktake on insurance intermediary supervision since the revised Insurance Supervision Act and Insurance Supervision Ordinance took effect on 1 January 2024. It said the supervisory framework is now established and has improved client protection and distribution market quality, including through new minimum training standards and stronger distribution controls. But FINMA also said abuse remains material, with thousands of insurance clients affected each year and a persistent level of unauthorised activity. Around 12,000 untied insurance intermediaries are now in the FINMA register, including more than 7,000 new registrations since 1 January 2024, while around 3,000 intermediaries have deregistered. FINMA said key concerns include incorrect advice by inadequately qualified intermediaries, unsuitable life insurance sales without transparent cost information or suitability assessments, pressure selling, unrealistic return promises, forged signatures, identity theft, falsified qualifications and continued prohibited cold calling linked to opaque business models. It estimates that around 10% of all market participants are still operating without authorisation. In response, FINMA said it has intervened in numerous cases, including halting distribution, removing inadequately qualified individuals from the market, issuing warnings, filing criminal charges in serious cases, and deleting registrations or withdrawing licences where appropriate. It has also ordered follow-up consultations at a large number of insurance companies to review existing cover and seek fair solutions for affected policyholders, and said it is monitoring those consultations and their outcomes closely.

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