Moldova's National Commission for Financial Markets has approved the submission of a draft law on insurance distribution to the Ministry of Finance for further promotion. The bill would establish a new framework for the distribution of insurance and reinsurance products by aligning national rules with the European Union Insurance Distribution Directive and by introducing a conduct regime focused on customer protection, transparency, professional responsibility and the prevention of conflicts of interest. The proposal would broaden and clarify the channels through which insurance policies can be sold, with more explicit rules for insurers, brokers, insurance agents, bancassurance agents, brokerage assistants and ancillary intermediaries. It would apply uniform knowledge and professional competence requirements across all types of insurance distributors, strengthen pre-contractual disclosure on the product, the distributor's role, remuneration, conflicts of interest, complaints handling and out-of-court dispute resolution, and require distributors to assess the customer's demands and needs so that the proposed contract is appropriate. Where advice is provided, the distributor would need to give a personalised recommendation and explain why the product best matches the client's needs. For firms that manufacture insurance products, the bill introduces product approval, review and distribution requirements, including identification of the target market and proportionality to the nature of the product. Insurance-based investment products would face additional client protection rules, including collection of information on the client's knowledge and experience, financial situation, ability to bear losses, investment objectives and risk tolerance. The draft law will now be promoted by the Ministry of Finance and will proceed to the approval and public consultation stages.

Original source View in tracker