Germany: BaFin publishes General Administrative Act regarding the business of UK insurance undertakings in Germany after 31 December 2020

12 January 2021

Germany: Brexit: BaFin publishes a General Administrative Act (Allgemeinverfügung) regarding the conduct of insurance business of UK insurance undertakings and institutions for occupational retirement provisions in Germany after the end of the transitional period. On 31 December 2020 – at the end of the transitional period during which the UK was still part of the Customs Union and the Single Market despite its exit from the European Union on 31 January 2020 – , BaFin has issued and published a General Administrative Act ("Allgemeinverfügung zur Durchführung und Abwicklung der grenzübrschreitenden Tätigkeit von Versicherern und EbAV aus UK und GI") stating that insurance undertakings and institutions for occupational retirement provision (IORPs) with their registered office in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland or in the British overseas territory of Gibraltar will lose their European passporting rights on 1 January 2021. As a consequence, they will no longer be permitted to carry out cross-border activities in Germany. The General Administrative Act addresses the impact of Brexit on the existing contractual obligations of these insurance undertakings and IORPs. As the EU and the UK have not concluded a comprehensive trade agreement for the area of insurance supervision, Solvency II insurance undertakings will no longer be authorised to operate EU-wide, as provided for in Article 15(1) of Directive 2009/138/EC. This also applies to IORPs whose cross-border activities are governed by Articles 11 and 12 of Directive (EU) 2016/2341. In short, BaFin has made the following orders: Companies that have conducted insurance business in Germany until the end ...