“Halve insurance tax in life insurance!”

April 15, 2021 – Robert Lasshofer has been at the helm of the Austrian Association of Insurance Companies for two years since January 1, 2021. In an interview with VersicherungsJournal he slows down an “IDD 2”, sees Insurtechs as a sparring partner and calls for several preventive measures.

VVO President
Robert Lasshofer
(Image: Ian Ehm)

Robert Lasshofer was General Manager of the until December of the previous year Wiener Städtische Versicherung AG.

Since then he has been chairman of the Wiener Städtische Wechselseitiger Versicherungsverein – asset management, the main shareholder of Vienna Insurance Group AG.

He has also been President of the since January of this year Insurance association (VVO) (Insurance Journal 11.1.2021).

In this role he was available for an interview with the VersicherungsJournal.

Insurance Journal: The Insurance Distribution Directive (IDD) has been implemented in Austria since January 28, 2019. What is your conclusion?

Robert Lasshofer: We have learned in recent years that we have to live with it, even if it must be emphasized that the administrative burden for insurers and intermediaries has increased significantly.

Basically, insurance companies and brokers have already fulfilled the most important points even before the IDD, above all that the insurance customer has to be considered holistically and his overall risk situation, the assets examined and his needs defined.

This was standardized and also bureaucratised with the IDD. However, IDD is not so old that we should think about reviews again now. The time for an IDD 2 is not yet ripe.

Insurance Journal: In your opinion, what is the “digital story” of insurance companies and the strategy in competition with InsurTechs?

Lasshofer: Corona gave an additional boost to promoting digitization projects in the insurance industry. The industry has already made major modernization steps and will continue to strengthen them.

This will not be a revolutionary, but an evolutionary process. So we don’t need to be afraid of the InsurTechs, on the contrary, we can work with them as sparring partners to develop innovative solutions.

The goal is to expand digital customer service even further, true to the motto: convenience first. We insurers can still improve in one way or another, for example when it comes to simpler processes or user-friendly platforms.

Insurance Journal: How is government funding for private old-age provision, which was demanded long before the pandemic, possible despite a record budget deficit?

Lasshofer: Supplementary old-age provision must become a recognized component in order to relieve the increasing financial pressure from the state pension system.

One requirement is to lower the insurance tax in life insurance from four to two percent. This reduction is necessary because, due to the persistently low interest rate environment, policyholders are burdened disproportionately more strongly by the insurance tax of four percent than if the income were taxed with a KESt.

The second requirement is to ensure a level playing field between securities, funds and insurance companies in sustainable investments. In concrete terms, this means that, analogous to the KESt-exemption for securities and fund products proposed in the government program, life insurances with ecological and ethical assessments should also be tax-free.

Another requirement is to make future provision more attractive again. State funding should be increased. The Wifo pension expert Thomas Url recently made the proposal to double the state funding again (VersicherungsJournal March 12th, 2021, note). I can only associate myself with.

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