(1) When giving advice on an insurance-based investment product, the insurer enquires as to the following:
1. knowledge and experience of the policyholder in the investment field with regard to the specific product type or the specific type of service,
2. the financial circumstances of the policyholder, including the ability of the policyholder to bear losses, and
3. the investment objectives, including the policyholder’s risk tolerance.
The insurer may only recommend insurance-based investment products to the policyholder that are suitable for the policyholder, and which in particular correspond to the policyholder’s risk tolerance and ability to bear losses. The insurer may only recommend a package of services or products bundled in accordance with section 7a as part of investment advice if the entire package is suitable for the customer.
(2) The insurer must always verify whether the insurance product is appropriate for the policyholder. In order to assess the appropriateness, the insurer must ask the policyholder for information regarding his or her knowledge and experience in the investment field in relation to the specific type of product or service. If a package is offered in accordance with section 7a, the insurer takes into account whether the package is appropriate. If the insurer is of the opinion that the product is inappropriate for the policyholder, he or she warns the policyholder. If the policyholder does not provide the information referred to in subsection (1) sentence 1, or if he or she does not provide sufficient information regarding his or her knowledge and experience, the insurer warns him or her that he or she is unable to assess whether the product under consideration is appropriate for him or her due to insufficient information. These warnings may be given in a standardised format.
(3) If insurers do not provide the advice referred to in subsection (1), they may distribute insurance-based investment products without the verification provided for in subsection (2) if the following conditions are met:
1. the activities relate to one of the following insurance-based investment products:
a) contracts exclusively involving investment risks arising from financial instruments that are not considered to constitute complex financial instruments within the meaning of Directive 2014/65/EU, and do not have a structure that makes it difficult for the policyholder to understand the risks associated with the investment, or
b) other non-complex insurance-based investment products;
2. the distribution activity is carried out at the instigation of the policyholder;
3. the policyholder has been unambiguously informed that the insurer has not verified the appropriateness of the insurance-based investment products offered when performing the distribution activity; such warning may be given in a standardised form;
4. the insurer fulfils his or her obligations to avoid conflicts of interest.
(4) The insurer draws up a record of the agreements concluded with the policyholder concerning the rights and obligations of the parties, as well as the conditions under which the insurance company provides services to the policyholder. The rights and obligations of the contracting parties may be governed by making reference to other documents or legal texts.
(5) The insurer must provide the policyholder with appropriate reports on the services provided on a permanent data medium. These reports contain regular communications to the policyholder, taking into account the nature and complexity of the respective insurance-based investment products, as well as the nature of the service provided for the policyholder, and where appropriate the costs associated with the transactions carried out and the services provided. If the insurer provides an advisory service with regard to an insurance-based investment product, he or she provides the policyholder with a declaration on a permanent data medium prior to the conclusion of the contract, listing the advisory service provided and the preferences, objectives and other customer-specific characteristics that have been taken into account thereby. Section 6a applies; the declaration may not however be made via a website. If the insurance contract is concluded using a means of distance communication, and prior handing over of the declaration of appropriateness is not possible, the insurer may make the declaration of appropriateness available to the policyholder on a permanent data medium without undue delay after conclusion of the insurance contract, provided that the following conditions are met:
1. the policyholder has agreed to this procedure, and
2. the insurer has offered to the policyholder to postpone the time of conclusion of the contract in order to enable the policyholder to receive the declaration of appropriateness in advance thereof.
If the insurer has informed the policyholder that he or she will carry out a regular assessment of appropriateness, each regular report must include an updated statement regarding the extent to which the insurance-based investment product is consistent with the policyholder’s preferences, objectives and other customer-specific characteristics.