The French Prudential Supervision and Resolution Authority (ACPR), the banking and insurance watchdog, has warned 30,000 contracts were affected in France by the insolvency of life insurer FWU Life Insurance Lux SA, based in Luxembourg.
The banking and insurance watchdog said in a statement on 7 August that the Commissariat aux Assurances (CAA), the competent supervisory authority for the insurance sector in Luxembourg, had communicated on 19 July and 2 August 2024 on the situation of the insurance company FWU Life Insurance Lux SA.
The ACPR flagged that "within the framework of the administrative sanction of August 4, 2022 issued by the CAA against FWU Life Insurance Lux SA, the F-Series generation products carried by the insurer are prohibited from being marketed on French territory. Since then, the marketing of no other product of the insurer has been authorized on this territory".
However, the French regulator said "the organization has a portfolio of 30,000 contracts marketed to French policyholders prior to the sanction. Policyholders who would like more information are encouraged to contact the insurer FWU Life Insurance Lux SA according to the terms of the contracts."
The ACPR further said it "remains in close communication with the CAA and the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority".
In a CAA statement on 19 July it said that FWU Life Insurance Lux SA informed the CAA "that it no longer meets the requirements of Solvency Capital Requirement and Minimum Capital Requirement" and that this information "is concomitant with the declaration of insolvency made by the insurance holding company FWU AG, the sole shareholder of FWU Life Insurance Lux SA, to the Munich District Court due to its over-indebtedness".
On the home page of the FWU company website, there is a link to the CAA notices under the heading 'INSOLVENCY OF FWU LIFE INSURANCE LUX SA'
Elsewhere on the company website the insurer says it offers a wide range of services from unit-linked life insurance to asset and investment management with one million clients worldwide, two billion euros in assets under management and a presence on the French market since 1997.
