New amendments from the Hungarian Ministry of Finance on unit-linked life insurance will come into force on July 1, 2019. The adjustment of the Insurance Activities Act creates new obligations for insurers.

While the changes overall are not so radical or impactful, unit-linked consumers will gain more benefits and insurers will need to offer more transparency and support for their clients.

A few of the regulations that enter into force for unit-linked products are:

• insurance companies must contact their customers at least once per year, free of charge, to inform them about contract status, the costs of contract, the amount of premiums paid and any information requested about the evolution of unit-linked funds;
• in case of contract termination or if an insurance event happens, the company needs to contact the insured person/beneficiaries within 15 days after the termination or event announcement, and offer a detailed description of contract situation;
• more transparency will be required of insurance companies - companies will need to publish daily updates about fund evolution on their website. Also, insurers need to offer a contact line constantly available during working days to fulfill any requests from their customers.

The official text of Ministry of Finance decree can be found here (Hungarian).