Portfolio transfer

(1) A contract by which the insurance portfolio of a domestic branch within the meaning of section 68(1) is transferred, wholly or in part, to 1. an insurance undertaking with its registered office in a member state or contracting state, or 2. the domestic branch of an insurance undertaking of a third country, requires the approval of the Federal Institute. Approval may be granted only where the acquiring third-country branch or the acquiring insurance undertaking with its registered office in a member state or contracting state demonstrates that, following the transfer, it has sufficient eligible own funds to comply with the Solvency Capital Requirement. This is demonstrated by a certificate from 1. the competent authority of the other member state or contracting state, where the acquiring undertaking has its registered office in another member state or contracting state, or 2. the chosen supervisory authority within the meaning of section 70(1), fourth sentence, where the capital resources of the third-country branch are supervised by it. Section 63(4) applies correspondingly for direct insurance undertakings.
(2) Where direct insurance contracts are among the assets covered by the approval, approval may be granted only where the supervisory authorities of the states in which the risks of the insurance portfolio are situated consent. Failure of those supervisory authorities to respond within three months of receiving the application is deemed to be consent.
(3) The portfolio transfer requires written form; section 311b(3) of the Civil Code does not apply. The rights and obligations of the transferring undertaking under the insurance or reinsurance contracts pass to the acquiring undertaking upon the portfolio transfer, also as against the policyholders or prior insurers; section 415 of the Civil Code does not apply. Approval of the portfolio transfer must be published in the Federal Gazette. As soon as the portfolio transfer has taken effect, the acquiring branch must inform the policyholders or prior insurers of the portfolio transfer without delay, in writing or electronically.
(4) Where the insurance portfolio of a domestic branch is transferred to the domestic branch of an insurance undertaking of a third country, and the capital resources of the branch of the latter undertaking are supervised by the supervisory authority of another member state or contracting state, the security provided by a branch for the transferred portfolio remains in place, unless the supervisory authority responsible for the acquiring undertaking determines otherwise.