Nearly a third of French insurance operators sanctioned

The Directorate General for Competition Policy, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (DGCCRF) has issued 29 warnings, 11 injunctions, 7 criminal proceedings and 2 administrative fines against a number of French insurance operators. These were issued for failure to comply with consumer rights regulations.

Between January 2021 and April 2022, the DGCCRF carried out over 400 inspections of 147 establishments: brokers, insurers, mutual insurers and insurance subsidiaries of banking groups.

The findings of the investigation revealed violations in nearly a third (34%) of the establishments inspected. There were three anomalies detected:

• abusive practices in the marketing of insurance policies by telephone canvassing
• lack of transparency on the conditions for underwriting legal expenses insurance
• incomplete reimbursement in the event of early termination of the insurance contract