2Financial institutions
2.7 Insurance and reinsurance companies and insurance intermediaries
In light of the security it provides to individuals and traders and the positive role it plays in encouraging and channeling savings into productive investments, the insurance industry is subject to comprehensive legal regulations and tight administrative control. In this regard, insurers are required to invest part of the premiums they receive in assets that ensure security, profitability and liquidity.
The industry is supervised by the Directorate-General of Insurance and Pension Funds (DGS), attached to the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation, and the basic legal regime for insurance in Spain is as follows:
- Insurance firms:
- The legislation on insurance firms is contained in Law 20/2015 of July 14, 2015 on the Regulation, Supervision and Solvency of insurance and reinsurance entities, and Royal Decree 1060/2015 of November 20, 2015 on the regulation, supervision and solvency of insurance and reinsurance entities, which contain, in revised form, the provisions of the previous legislation which remain in force, the new solvency system introduced by the so-called Solvency II Directive (Directive 2009/138/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of November 25, 2009) and other rules intended to bring the legislation into line with the sector’s development.
- The legislation on insurance intermediaries is contained in Private Insurance and Reinsurance Intermediation Law 26/2006, of July 17, 2006.
- The legislation on insurance contracts is contained in the Insurance Contract Law 50/1980, of October 8, 1980.
An insurer is a company that engages in the business of performing direct insurance transactions and which may also accept reinsurance transactions in the lines for which it is authorized to do direct insurance business. This is an exclusive and excluding business, that is, insurance contracts can only be formalized by insurers that are duly authorized by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation and registered on the register of the DGS, and insurers cannot perform transactions other than those defined in the above-mentioned insurance legislation. In this respect, the applicable legislation has established a specific authorization procedure for entities wishing to engage in these activities.
Insurance entities are permitted to adopt the form of a corporation (Sociedad Anónima), a European public limited liability company (Sociedad Anónima Europea), a mutual insurance company (Mutua de Seguros), a cooperative society (Sociedad Cooperativa), a European cooperative society (Sociedad Cooperativa Europea), or a welfare mutual insurance company (Mutualidad de Prevision Social). Prior administrative authorization is required to operate in each line of insurance, which authorization implies registration on the register of insurance entities of the DGS. Foreign insurers are permitted to operate in Spain through a branch or under the freedom to provide services, if they are domiciled in other countries of the European Economic Area, and through a branch if they are domiciled in third countries.
The Spanish insurance industry continues to be characterized by the co-existence of a certain degree of concentration of the business volume in highly-competitive lines and types of insurance (life, health, motor, multi-risk insurance) which require considerable size in terms of assets and administration, with the dispersion of a minimum part of that business volume among a large number of entities operating in other types of insurance which do not require such size.
On the other hand, reinsurance entities are entities that undertake to reimburse insurers for the obligations they may hold vis-à-vis third parties under arranged insurance contracts, and which are covered by reinsurance. Reinsurance business can be undertaken in Spain by Spanish reinsurance companies whose sole corporate purpose is to arrange reinsurance, insurance entities themselves with respect to classes of insurance for which they are authorized and, lastly, foreign reinsurance entities which are domiciled in another country from the Economic European Area (under the freedom to provide services or through branches in Spain) or in third countries, in this latter case, either through a branch established in Spain or from the country in which their registered office is located (but not from branches located outside Spain).
The following table shows the changes in the numbers of operating Spanish insurance and reinsurance entities. The figures are broken down between direct insurance entities and pure reinsurance entities and, within the former category, by the various legal forms they take. There are currently no insurance cooperatives on the register20.
| DIRECT INSURANCE ENTITIES | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| - Corporations | 195 | 188 | 183 | 178 | 168 | 156 | 147 | 136 | 126 | 126 | 125 | 125 |
| - Mutual insurance societies | 35 | 34 | 32 | 32 | 31 | 31 | 31 | 30 | 30 | 28 | 30 | 28 |
| - Welfare mutual insurance societies | 55 | 55 | 53 | 52 | 53 | 50 | 50 | 48 | 47 | 45 | 42 | 36 |
| Total Direct Insurance entities | 285 | 277 | 268 | 262 | 252 | 237 | 228 | 214 | 203 | 199 | 197 | 189 |
| Specialized reinsurers | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Total insurance and reinsurance entities | 287 | 279 | 270 | 264 | 255 | 240 | 231 | 217 | 207 | 203 | 201 | 193 |
Insurance intermediaries are individuals or legal entities that, being duly entered in the DGS’s special administrative register of insurance intermediaries and brokers and their senior officers, pursue the mediation between insurance or reinsurance policyholders, on the one hand, and insurance or reinsurance entities, on the other. The following are mediation activities:
- Introducing, proposing or carrying out work preparatory to the conclusion of insurance or reinsurance contracts.
- Concluding insurance and reinsurance contracts.
- Assisting in the administration and performance of such contracts, in particular in the event of a claim.
Intermediaries are classified as follows:
- Insurance agents: Individuals or legal entities that conclude an agency agreement with an insurance entity. Insurance agents may be:
- Exclusive insurance agents: They carry on the activity of insurance mediation for one insurance entity on an exclusive basis, unless the insurance entity authorizes the agent to operate solely with a different insurance entity in certain lines of insurance in which the authorizing entity does not operate.
- Tied insurance agents: They carry on the activity of insurance mediation for one or more insurance entities.
- Bancassurance operators: These are credit institutions, credit financial establishments or companies owned or controlled by them that carry on the activity of insurance mediation through an insurance agency contract for one or more insurance entities using the distribution networks of the credit institutions or credit financial establishments (in the case of companies owned or controlled by credit institutions or credit financial establishments, such entities are required to have assigned their distribution networks to the investee or controlled company for insurance distribution purposes). The bancassurance operators may be exclusive or non-exclusive.
- Insurance brokers: Individuals or legal entities that carry on the commercial activity of private insurance mediation without any contractual ties to insurance entities and that offer independent, professional and impartial advice to the client.
- Reinsurance brokers: Individuals or legal entities that carry on the activity of mediation in relation to reinsurance transactions.
In the event of acquisition of holdings amounting to 5% of the share capital or the voting rights of a Spanish insurance or reinsurance entity, the DGS is required to be informed within a maximum of ten business days counted as from the acquisition date. In cases of acquisition of significant holdings (i.e. those amounting directly or indirectly to 10% of share capital or voting rights) or increases in holdings which bring them up to or over the limits of 20%, 30% or 50%, or when the acquisition may result in the control of a Spanish insurance entity, reinsurance entity or insurance brokerage being assumed, the transaction can only go ahead if the DGS has not objected to it. Where a holding makes it possible to exert a notable influence on the management of the insurance entity, reinsurance entity or insurance brokerage, it will also be considered a significant holding even if it does not amount to 10%.
