Supreme Court answers questions Court of Appeal The Hague on information obligations for unit-linked policies

Today’s judgment has no direct consequences for customers with a unit-linked policy. The Court of Appeal The Hague will resume the collective proceedings between the Vereniging Woekerpolis.nl and Nationale-Nederlanden 

Today, the Dutch Supreme Court answered questions of law submitted to it by the Court of Appeal in The Hague. The Supreme Court’s answers relate to collective proceedings initiated by the Vereniging Woekerpolis.nl against Nationale-Nederlanden concerning unit-linked policies.  

In these proceedings, the Court of Appeal submitted preliminary questions to the Supreme Court to obtain clarity on the interpretation of certain principle questions of law that are relevant in disputes concerning unit-linked policies. The questions concern the relationship between the specific Dutch regulations applicable to insurers regarding the provision of (pre)contractual information, and Dutch civil law and the impact thereon by European law. 

The Supreme Court primarily considers that Dutch civil law is applicable to the legal relationship between insurer and insured. It is up to lower courts to decide whether Dutch civil law entails obligations to provide information in addition to the obligations arising from specific regulations and, if so, which obligations. The Supreme Court holds that potential additional information obligations must satisfy the criteria formulated by the Court of Justice of the European Union in the NN/Van Leeuwen judgment.  

The Supreme Court finds that the courts have to judge whether these information obligations 1) pertain to information that is clear and accurate, 2) are necessary for a proper understanding of the essential characteristics of the unit-linked policy, and 3) enable the insurer to identify with sufficient foreseeability the additional information that must be provided and that the insured may expect.

Today’s judgment has no direct consequences for customers with a unit-linked policy. The Court of Appeal in The Hague will resume the collective proceedings between the Vereniging Woekerpolis.nl and Nationale-Nederlanden. 

The Supreme Court's ruling does not change Nationale-Nederlanden's previously published views and conclusions regarding unit-linked policies. 

Nationale-Nederlanden will continue to reach out to customers to encourage them to carefully assess their unit-linked policy. Customers with questions about their unit-linked policy can visit https://www.nn.nl/Particulier/Verzekeren/Uw-Beleggingsverzekering.htm, where they will find answers to the most frequently asked questions and options for customers with a unit-linked policy.

  • NN Group is an international financial services company, active in 19 countries, with a strong presence in a number of European countries and Japan. With all its employees, the Group provides retirement services, pensions, insurance, investments and banking to approximately 18 million customers. NN Group includes Nationale-Nederlanden, NN, NN Investment Partners, ABN AMRO Insurance, Movir, AZL, BeFrank and OHRA. NN Group is listed on Euronext Amsterdam (NN).

  • Elements of this press release contain or may contain information about NN Group N.V. within the meaning of Article 7(1) to (4) of EU Regulation No 596/ 2014 (Market Abuse Regulation). 

    All figures in this document are unaudited. Small differences are possible due to rounding. Certain of the statements contained herein are not historical facts, including, without limitation, certain statements made of future expectations and other forward-looking statements that are based on management’s current views and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements. Actual results, performance or events may differ materially from those in such statements due to, without limitation: (1) changes in general economic conditions, in particular economic conditions in NN Group’s core markets, (2) the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and related response measures, including lockdowns and travel restrictions, on economic conditions in countries in which NN Group operates, on NN Group’s business and operations and on NN Group’s employees, customers and counterparties (3) changes in performance of financial markets, including developing markets, (4) consequences of a potential (partial) break-up of the euro or European Union countries leaving the European Union, (5) changes in the availability of, and costs associated with, sources of liquidity as well as conditions in the credit markets generally, (6) the frequency and severity of insured loss events, (7) changes affecting mortality and morbidity levels and trends, (8) changes affecting persistency levels, (9) changes affecting interest rate levels, (10) changes affecting currency exchange rates, (11) changes in investor, customer and policyholder behaviour, (12) changes in general competitive factors, (13) changes in laws and regulations and the interpretation and application thereof, (14) changes in the policies and actions of governments and/or regulatory authorities, (15) conclusions with regard to accounting assumptions and methodologies, (16) changes in ownership that could affect the future availability to NN Group of net operating loss, net capital and built-in loss carry forwards, (17) changes in credit and financial strength ratings, (18) NN Group’s ability to achieve projected operational synergies, (19) catastrophes and terrorist-related events, (20) adverse developments in legal and other proceedings and (21) the other risks and uncertainties contained in recent public disclosures made by NN Group.  

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