General communication

Companies should send applications, documents to be submitted and other correspondence to BaFin’s Insurance Supervision Sector by electronic means only. For cases where the law requires the written form, BaFin provides means for transmitting electronic documents in a legally valid manner.

Please address your electronic correspondence to the competent division as follows: [email protected] (“xy” being a placeholder for the division number) (examples: [email protected]; [email protected], etc.). Companies should address any questions they have about electronic correspondence regarding complaints to their point of contact at BaFin in division VBS 14

Confidential information must be sent by encrypted e-mail. This applies in particular to consumer complaints, petitions and enquiries regarding insurers and insurance matters, which are handled centrally by division VBS 14. For information about secure e-mail communication, which many companies already use on a regular basis to communicate with BaFin, please refer to the BaFin website.

Information on the electronic submission of the following documents is provided below:

• annual financial statements/annual reports
• audit reports
• registers of guarantee assets
• other documents

Electronic submission of annual financial statements and annual reports

Once prepared, annual financial statements and management reports are to be submitted electronically via the reporting and publishing platform (MVP). The same applies to approved annual reports and final annual reports.

This is the mode of submission that BaFin recommends. These documents are to be submitted using the MVP specialised procedure, “insurance supervision”, submission “Geschäftsberichte (prefix GB)”. For advice regarding file naming conventions, please refer to the Information sheet on the specialised procedure Insurance Supervision on the MVP Portal. Please also use the free text part of the file name to make it clear whether the file contains the prepared annual financial statements and management report or the approved or final annual report. Examples of valid file names (for the fictitious registration number 1234) would therefore be: GB_1234_Aufgestellter_JA_und_Lagebericht_2021.pdf (prepared annual financial statements and management report), GB_1234_Festgestellter_Geschaeftsbericht_2021.pdf (approved annual report) or GB_1234_Endgueltiger_Geschaeftsbericht_2021.pdf (final annual report).

These documents, which should be submitted with a simple signature (=full name in text form), are to be accompanied by a letter stating that the report has been approved by resolution of those authorised to approve it (and, if applicable, whether this was resolution by circulation, in a video conference or similar) and, where appropriate, that it has been signed by the necessary individuals (section 16 (2) of the Insurance Reporting Regulation (Versicherungsberichterstattungs-Verordnung – BerVersV)). The letter must be signed by the chairperson or their deputy using a simple signature (=full name in text form). If the accompanying letter is transmitted in a separate file, this file is required to follow the same file naming conventions as the documents to be submitted.

Electronic submission of audit reports

Audit reports from auditors now only need to be uploaded electronically via the MVP with a qualified electronic signature (QES); it is no longer necessary to submit a hard copy in these cases.

The following established modes of submission are to be used for such files:

“WP-Bericht Jahresabschluss (prefix WP-JA)” submission in the MVP specialised procedure “Insurance Supervision”

• Upload file types: pdf
• Upload file name: WP-JA_<4-digit registration number>_<free text: 1 to 85 permitted characters (no umlauts, spaces or special characters)>.pdf

“WP-Bericht Solvabilitätsübersicht (PDF)” submission in the MVP specialised procedure “Insurance Supervision – Solvency II”

• Upload file types: pdf
• Upload file name: WP-SII_<4-digit registration number>_<free text: 1 to 85 permitted characters (no umlauts, spaces or special characters)>.pdf
  For files containing a qualified electronic signature, the free text part of the file name is to include, “qeS” (e.g. WP-SII_1234_Solvabilitaetsuebersicht_2021_qeS.pdf).

Notes and remarks from the management board and the supervisory board regarding the audit report (section 37 (5) of the Insurance Supervision Act (Versicherungsaufsichtsgesetz – VAG)) can also be uploaded via the MVP with a simple signature (=full name in text form), observing the above file naming conventions, and do not need a QES.

Electronic submission of a register of guarantee assets (Sicherungsvermögensverzeichnis)

For the financial year 2022 onwards, companies may submit registers of guarantee assets to the relevant insurance supervision divisions electronically with a qualified electronic signature (QES) in PDF/A format via the MVP platform. However, electronic submission is not compulsory; it is still possible to submit registers of guarantee assets in paper form. BaFin welcomes submissions of registers of guarantee assets in electronic form. Hybrid submission of registers of guarantee assets (where some documents are submitted by post with original signatures and others are submitted via the MVP platform with a QES) is not possible at present.

Format and scope of submission:

The register of guarantee assets file (SVV file) is to be uploaded in PDF/A format on the MVP platform and must include the following components:

• the additions to and withdrawals from the guarantee assets that have occurred during the year
  
• every five years, an inventory of all guarantee assets (separate SVV file, see naming convention below)
• the electronically produced confirmation from the management board/authorised agent, as set out in section 126 (2) sentence 1 of the VAG, that the submitted entries in the register of assets are accurate (including with regard to points 2.2 to 2.6/2.5 of Annex 15 (Form VV-Z) of Circular 7/2016 (VA) and/or Circular 6/2017 (VA))
• the electronically produced confirmation from the guarantee assets trustee in line with point 3 of Annex 15 (Form VV-Z) of Circular 7/2016 (VA) and/or Circular 6/2017 (VA)
• Annex 15 (Form VV-Z) of Circular 7/2016 (VA) and/or Circular 6/2017 (VA), filled in (the signatures of the management board or authorised agent and the guarantee assets trustee are not required)
• for companies that (for some of their portfolio) are required to appoint a responsible actuary, an electronically produced confirmation from this actuary regarding the accuracy of the calculation of the target volume of guarantee assets, separately for each basket of guarantee assets and each separate account within the guarantee assets as well as broken down into the different parts of the target volume of guarantee assets
• for companies that are not required to appoint a responsible actuary, a calculation of the target volume of guarantee assets, electronically produced by the company and itemised as specified above

The entire SVV file is to be signed electronically by QES by two authorised representatives of the company. In this context, the company can include a letter from the two authorised representatives at the start of the SVV file informing BaFin that they have digitally signed the entire SVV file by QES for submission to BaFin. It is not sufficient for this letter to be signed by QES as a separate PDF/A file and then added on to the beginning of a register or inventory of guarantee assets that is not signed by QES in a combined PDF/A file. The QES must relate to the entire SVV file.
A confirmation is “electronically produced” if the person making the declaration produced the confirmation using an electronic system. Please note that a document signed on paper and then scanned or otherwise processed electronically is categorised as a paper document and therefore does not fulfil the requirement of an “electronically produced confirmation”. The issuer, the date and the content of the declaration must be clear from the confirmation; it is not necessary for a scanned signature to be inserted. With regard to the above-mentioned confirmation from the management board/authorised agent/guarantee assets trustee, the person making the declaration may manually formulate the confirmation in a word processing program, save this file and then incorporate the file into the SVV file mentioned above in order to satisfy the requirements.

Formulation for an electronically produced confirmation from the management board/authorised agent:
“In accordance with section 126 (2) sentence 1 of the VAG, I hereby certify that the entries in the register of assets as submitted to BaFin for the [insert financial year] financial year are accurate and complete, and that the entries under points 2.2 to [2.6 for Circular 7/2016 (VA) or 2.5. for Circular 6/2017 (VA)] of Annex 15 (Form VV-Z) of Circular [7/2016 (VA) or 6/2017 (VA)] are accurate. [Date, first and last name, management board/authorised agent]"

Please note: A reference to point 2.1 of Annex 15 (Form VV-Z) of the above circulars is not necessary, as this relates to submission in paper form.

Formulation for an electronically produced confirmation from the guarantee assets trustee:
"In accordance with section 128 (5) of the VAG, I hereby certify that the assets listed in the register of assets for the [insert financial year] financial year are invested in compliance with legal and supervisory requirements and safeguarded in accordance with the applicable rules. [Date, first and last name, guarantee assets trustee]"

• Further information about the submission of SVV files via the MVP platform:
  The specialised procedure to be used is called “Insurance Supervision”.
  Please remember to apply for personalised access to the specialised procedure in good time (at least 1 week before the planned notification).
• The name of the submission is “Register of Assets (Prefix SVV)”

Files uploaded must be in PDF/A format.
The maximum file size for submissions on the MVP platform is 250 MB.

Naming convention for uploaded files:
SVV_<4-digit registration number>_<BV or VV>_<financial year as 4-digit number>.pdf
BV = inventory of guarantee assets and VV = register of assets
Examples: SVV_4711_VV_2022.pdf or SVV_4711_BV_2022.pdf

Electronic submission of other documents via the MVP reporting platform

All other submission procedures set up on the MVP Portal remain unchanged. This includes the following in particular:

• tariff notifications for life insurers and insurers offering accident insurance with premium refunds,
• technical business plans (technische Geschäftspläne) for life insurers, funeral expenses funds (Sterbekassen) and insurers offering accident insurance with premium refunds and

• explanatory reports, suitability reports and surplus declarations for life insurers and insurers providing accident insurance with premium refunds and/or annuities in connection with liability/accident/motor vehicle insurance.