In 2011, life insurance generated more than 50% of the total premium revenue in
the European insurance market.1
Life insurance has various functions: for
example to provide means of support for the policyholder’s family after his/her
death; to provide means of support (by investment) during the policyholder’s life
combined with the protection of a death benefit; to provide security for loans
and life insurance in connection with other commercial transactions;2
to be part
of a pension scheme for the policyholder’s own old age.3
Accordingly life
insurance may adopt a great variety of forms. Defining the different forms of a
life insurance contract is problematic as there are many elements amongst which
make up the contract. There is much overlap between the different forms of the
contract. The following three examples demonstrate different types of life
insurance which can be obtained (but which should not be considered to be
exhaustive):
Pure risk policies provide financial protection in case of death, (serious) illness or
disability4
of the person at risk in the form of payment of a fixed sum or an
annuity at that occasion.
With-profits policies contain both a risk and a savings element in the premium
and mature either with the death or the survival of the person at risk at a certain
date; they allow the beneficiary to have its share in the profit made by the
insurer’s investment or the result of a certain benchmark.
Investment-linked policies equally combine life insurance with an investment in
financial products which are selected, , by the client who consequently bears the
investment risk. Investments that home state regulators permit to be linked to
investment-linked insurance contracts, differ in each country. Such contracts can
also be described as ‘unit-linked’ contracts. In countries such as France and
Belgium the ‘unit’ has a specific statutory meaning which does not exist in othe