Own licence or affiliation · aftercare · stopping
Professional indemnity insurance (BAV) for a self-employed financial adviser
Do you work under your own licence or affiliated to another firm? That answer determines which policy has to pick up your claim.
- Several insurers compared objectively
- 9.5 customer rating for a new policy
- AFM licence 12016589
- Personal 072 - 509 24 56, weekdays 9–17
Deze pagina in het Nederlands: Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering voor een zelfstandige financieel adviseur.
The calculator and the quote form below are in Dutch. Prefer to do this in English? Email info@finassverzekert. nl or call 072 - 509 24 56 and we will take it from there.
Work out for yourself what it would cost.
Enter your details; you will receive a proposal within one working day.
- We compare the offerings of several insurers
- An adviser checks whether the cover suits your activities
- We arrange the switch, including cancellation
A premium indication, not personal advice. Prefer to talk it through? Call 072 - 509 24 56.
In brief
The first question is a formal one: do you have your own licence from the regulator, or do you advise as an affiliated or tied intermediary under another firm's licence? In the first case the requirement in Article 4:75 of the Dutch Financial Supervision Act (Wft) applies to you directly and you need your own cover. In the second case you may be co-insured, but only if you are named, or included as a category, in the class of insured persons. Have that confirmed in writing; a verbal assurance from a firm's owner is worth nothing when a claim arrives.
The substance of the matter is the duty of care in Article 4:23 of the Dutch Financial Supervision Act (Wft): establishing the facts, analysing them and giving advice that fits the client's situation. As a self-employed professional you often have a smaller but closer circle of clients, in which much rests on trust and little on paper. That is precisely your weak point. If a claim is brought, the file is decisive: the client profile, the advice report, the options advised against and those declined. Without a record it is your word against the client's.
This policy covers pure financial loss: financial detriment without injury or damage to property. For damage you cause at a client's home or office you need public and employers' liability insurance. If you work for a firm with its own licence, also look at professional liability for financial advice firms.
This page deals with one situation. The full overview is on Compare professional indemnity insurance (BAV).
What to look out for
Four points that work out differently for a self-employed adviser than for a firm with staff.
Being co-insured is not something to assume
If you advise under someone else's licence, check whether you are named as an insured person on their policy and whether, after paying a claim, the insurer can seek recovery from you. Many policies do have that option in relation to hired-in self-employed professionals. Ask for the policy schedule and for confirmation that you fall under the cover, including for the period after the collaboration ends.
Aftercare continues after the advice
With ongoing products the client expects you to raise the alarm if his situation changes: divorce, illness, a different income or the end of a fixed-interest period. Complaints are often not about the original advice but about the absence of contact afterwards. Record which aftercare you have agreed and which you expressly do not provide.
Stopping without run-off cover is the biggest risk
If you retire or transfer your client base to a colleague, complaints about old advice keep coming in, sometimes only when the product pays out. A claims-made policy then no longer provides cover. Arrange run-off period before you cancel, and on a transfer record who carries liability for the old advice.
What is not insured
Outside the cover are fines and penalty payments from a regulator, refunding your own remuneration or commission, and advice on products for which you hold no licence or professional competence certificate. If you advise against your better judgement, that touches the exclusion for intent and recklessness in Article 7:952 of the Dutch Civil Code. A disappointing return or a rise in interest rates is not a professional error and therefore not an insured event.
What does your premium depend on?
- Annual turnover: commission and fees together
- Licensing position: your own licence or affiliated to a firm
- Product groups you advise on: complex products cost more premium than general insurance
- Number of active client files: determines the extent of your aftercare
- Retroactive date: from what moment old advice is covered
- Run-off period required: important where you are approaching the closure of your business
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is where your saving is.
What is covered
| Situation | AVB | BAV |
|---|---|---|
| On a remortgage a tax exemption lapses that your client particularly wanted to keep | No | Yes |
| You advise disability cover with an end age that does not match the pension date | No | Yes |
| An heir brings a claim against you because the credit had no life cover attached | No | Provided that |
| You knock a glass of water over the client's laptop at his home | Yes | No |
| A client demands a refund of the advice fee paid because the product disappoints him | No | No |
| A client transfers money after a false payment instruction that appears to come from you | No | No |
Claims by someone who is not your client, such as an heir or a co-debtor, are not automatically included on every policy.
Frequently asked questions
This is what people ask us most.
I work as an affiliated adviser. Do I have to be insured myself?
That depends on the arrangements with the firm you work under. If you are not named as an insured person on their policy, or if their insurer reserves the right of recovery against self-employed professionals it engages, you carry the risk yourself. Ask for clarity in writing before you start advising, and record what applies when the collaboration ends.
What if the client refused a cover I recommended?
Then your record is decisive. An adviser who can show that he pointed out a risk and the consequences of not insuring it acts within the standard of Article 7:401 of the Dutch Civil Code. If that record is missing, it is often assumed that the warning was never given. Confirm such choices by email and keep the client's reply in the file.
I am transferring my portfolio to a colleague. What do I arrange?
Record in the transfer that liability for advice given before the transfer date stays with you or expressly passes over, and match your run-off cover to that. The buyer generally does not want to carry your old files. Report the transfer to your insurer; under the policy conditions, changes in how the business is run may have to be notified.
Do I need cyber insurance as well as this policy?
You process income data, bank statements and medical information from applications. If that leaks, investigation, notification and recovery follow, and that falls outside professional indemnity insurance. Those costs belong on a cyber insurance. A fine from the Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens (the Dutch data protection authority) remains excluded on both policies, because it is a penalty and not compensation.
Read more
Within Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering
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