Poland’s financial market regulator (KNF) will continue to utilize product intervention to prevent cases of misselling, after sharpening its skills on insurance products linked to investment fund units, the chief of Poland’s regulatory office KNF Jacek Jastrzębski indicated.
„We see further potential for utilizing product intervention,” KNF chief Jastrzębski told an industry seminar.
Problems to date with the unit-linked insurance policies have proven the need for intervention and the damage that can be made to public trust in financial products, Jastrzębski indicated.
The insurance policies in question merit review both for concerns of misselling of the underlying risks as well as for liquidity concerns on policies packed with closed-end funds of low-liquidity assets, Jastrzębski added.
The KNF continues to work to define the parameters for such policies and underlying funds that would trigger closer regulatory grip. Jastrzębski declined to offer a deadline for conclusion of that stage of work.
Appointment of a new KNF deputy to oversee insurance could grease the process for an issue where Jastrzębski expects to gain synergies from his developing model of integrated supervision. The appointment is expected in roughly a month after being enabled by pending legislation.
A lingering question for the KNF in product intervention more broadly is balancing client protection with the need to limit costs for the whole system that might make products unviable, he explained.
