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Measure 22/07/15

AFM demands information concerning possible illegal advice about insurance

On 6 July 2015, the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM) imposed an order for incremental penalty payments on Ms S. Preuter.

The AFM suspects that she issued advice and acted as intermediary in insurance products without the mandatory AFM licence. The AFM requested Ms S. Preuter to provide information in order to be able to assess whether she actually broke the law. She failed to comply with these requests for information, however. That is why the AFM imposed the order for incremental penalty payments.

Advice and intermediary services

The AFM received reports that Ms S. Preuter visits consumers at home and issues advice to them concerning and/or acts as intermediary as regards insurance. In addition, the description of her business in the Commercial Register of the Chamber of Commerce indicates advice and intermediary services concerning financial products. It is forbidden by law to issue advice and provide intermediary services concerning financial products without an AFM licence. This means that her business may be in violation of the Financial Supervision Act (Wft).

The AFM requested Ms Preuter to provide information, because she is the owner and director of the business for which she performed the presumed advisory and intermediary activities. She has been required to pay the incremental penalty payments since 21 July 2015 because she failed to provide the information within the term set. The incremental penalty payments increase by €5,000 subject to a maximum of €50,000 for every day Ms Preuter fails to comply with the order for incremental penalty payments. The AFM has still not received the information.

What is an order for incremental penalty payments?

An order for incremental penalty payments is an instrument that is used to (instruct) order a company or person to perform or cease performing a certain act. If the order is not complied with within the term set, the company/person involved has to pay a sum of money. If this is the case, the AFM attempts to obtain information that is needed to perform an investigation into a possible violation.

If you have questions or complaints, please contact the AFM's Financial Markets Information Line: 0800-5400 540 (free of charge).

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