Regulation, compliance and the ACPR

Analysis and monitoring of the regulation applicable to insurance and reinsurance undertakings, French and foreign; assistance during ACPR inspections, through to remediation.

France

We advise insurance undertakings (insurance companies and mutual insurers) and reinsurance undertakings, French and foreign, as well as their intermediaries, on the analysis and monitoring of the regulation applicable to them.

An inspection by the (the French prudential supervision and resolution authority) covers specific documents and how they are actually applied: procedures, collection of client information, distribution agreements, complaints handling. ACPR recommendations and the positions of the (the French financial markets authority) are not law, but they show what each authority will check. We draft these documents, check how they are applied and assist our clients from preparing for an inspection through to implementing its follow-up measures.

ACPRAutorité de contrôle prudentiel et de résolution: the French authority, attached to the Banque de France, that authorises and supervises banks and insurers and oversees the protection of their customers.

AMFAutorité des marchés financiers: the French regulator of financial markets and financial products, whose remit covers in particular the instruments offered as unit-linked funds.

AML/CFTAnti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism: the obligations of due diligence, customer knowledge and reporting to Tracfin (the French financial intelligence unit) that apply to insurers and intermediaries. In French: LCB-FT.

What we do

01 Design

Licences, procedures and documentation

Licence, notification or extension applications for a new class of insurance, for an insurance company or a branch in France.
Drafting internal procedures: product governance, complaints handling, conflicts of interest, anti-money laundering (LCB-FT), unclaimed contracts.
Documents for clients and distributors: information sheets, standard wording for advice and warnings, compliance clauses in distribution agreements.
Control documents: questionnaires sent to intermediaries, minimum due diligence standards, audit reports.

02 Steer

Insurance undertakings: management rules and prudential framework

Allocation of profit sharing (participation aux bénéfices) between distribution networks.
Eligibility of assets under the Code des assurances (the French Insurance Code).
Impact of and of the two directives applicable from 30 January 2027: the Solvency II review (Directive (EU) 2025/2) and the recovery and resolution of insurers (Directive (EU) 2025/1).
Solvency IIDirective 2009/138/EC, which sets the prudential regime for European insurers and reinsurers. It has applied since 1 January 2016 and is revised by Directive (EU) 2025/2, which applies from 30 January 2027.

03 Steer

ACPR recommendations, AMF positions and EU legislation

Applying ACPR recommendations and AMF positions to internal procedures, contracts and marketing documents.
Transposition and impact of the (IDD), which replaced the Insurance Mediation Directive (known in France as “DIA 1”), and of the Regulation.
Insurance Distribution Directive (IDD)Directive (EU) 2016/97 on insurance distribution, transposed in France in 2018. It governs the information, advice and remuneration of distributors. In French: directive sur la distribution d’assurances (DDA).
PRIIPsRegulation (EU) No 1286/2014, which requires a key information document for packaged investment products, including unit-linked life insurance contracts.
Product governance, remuneration and conflicts of interest (ACPR Recommendation 2024-R-01).
Collection of client information and the (devoir de conseil): ACPR Recommendation 2024-R-03, which has replaced the 2013 recommendation since 31 December 2025.
Duty to adviseThe obligation of the insurer or the distributor to propose a contract consistent with the client’s demands and needs, and to explain the reasons for that advice.
Information and advice where a consists of complex financial instruments.
Unit-linked fundA life insurance investment option linked to financial assets (funds, securities): the value of the contract follows the value of these assets, with no capital guarantee from the insurer.
Complaints handling (ACPR Recommendation 2024-R-02).
⁠: tracing insured persons and beneficiaries, transferring unclaimed sums to the Caisse des dépôts (a French public financial institution); personal data protection, including health data.
Unclaimed (dormant) contractsThe situation of life insurance contracts that remain unclaimed. The Eckert Act of 2014, in force since 2016, strengthens the search for insured persons and beneficiaries and provides for the sums to be transferred, after a set period, to the Caisse des dépôts. In French: déshérence.
Monitoring decisions of the Commission des sanctions (the ACPR’s enforcement committee) and updating the procedures they affect.

04 Steer

Anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing

AML/CFT procedure manuals for insurers and intermediaries, first-level and second-level controls: drafting and audit.
AML/CFT provisions applicable to the subscription and administration of contracts; information sheets for clients.
Questionnaires sent to intermediaries and minimum due diligence standards.
AML/CFT clauses in distribution agreements and delegations of authority.
The insurer’s desk-based and on-site checks on intermediaries: audit reports.
Suspicious transaction reports to Tracfin (the French financial intelligence unit) and what to do about a suspicious transaction.
Updating AML/CFT procedures as legislation and ACPR guidelines change, and preparing for Regulation (EU) 2024/1624, applicable from 10 July 2027.

05 Defend

ACPR inspections: preparation, conduct, follow-up

Preparing for ⁠: up-to-date documentation, organising the responses.
Desk-based and on-site inspectionsThe ACPR’s inspections: desk-based, from the documents submitted; on-site, through a mission at the organisation’s premises, which ends with a report that may lead to measures or to proceedings before the Commission des sanctions.
Assistance during the inspection: tracking the inspection team’s requests and relations with the authority.
Written observations on the draft inspection report.
Responses to follow-up letters and to the measures requested.
Bringing practices into compliance, and a remediation plan that a later inspection can check.

Frequently asked questions

Is an ACPR recommendation binding?

Not in the way a statute is. It sets rules of good professional practice for marketing and customer protection (Article L. 612-29-1 of the Code monétaire et financier, the French Monetary and Financial Code), which the ACPR checks during its inspections. It often spells out legal obligations, and a breach of those obligations can be sanctioned. Since 2016, the Conseil d’État (France’s highest administrative court) has allowed challenges, subject to conditions, to these soft-law instruments where they have significant effects.

We are undergoing an ACPR on-site inspection. When should we bring in a lawyer?

From the start of the inspection, if possible. The answers given during the inspection and the observations on the draft report shape what follows: a simple follow-up letter, a warning, a formal notice or the opening of enforcement proceedings. Together with you, we prepare the answers to the inspection team’s requests, the written observations and the remediation plan that the ACPR may check during a later inspection.

Can an insurer rely on its intermediaries for AML/CFT due diligence?

Only in part. Insurance intermediaries are themselves subject to AML/CFT obligations, with exceptions, notably when they act under the insurer’s full responsibility. The insurer can rely on their due diligence, but remains responsible for complying with its own obligations (Article L. 561-7 of the Code monétaire et financier). We recommend that the distribution agreement specify the information to be passed on, the time limits and the checks, desk-based or on-site, that the insurer will carry out.