In recent months, the Association has worked a project plan that includes the scope (scope), phasing, the relationship with other stakeholders, required capacity and the budget. This plan was then discussed with the various bodies for whom the standards are relevant. The Board of the Association has now agreed to the project approach. This means that the Association will set up a project organisation in the coming months, to which insurers will be invited.
Determining added value
The insurers involved ultimately determine which insurance products have the greatest added value for sectoral cooperation. An evaluation moment is scheduled for the third quarter of 2025 to discuss progress and whether the project meets the assignment. The project programme is implemented through the regular budget of the Association. This means that all insurers bear the costs together. After about two years, the management phase begins to maintain the developed standards, to improve and tighten them where necessary. Every insurer is free to make use of the sector standards that are yet to be developed.
Inducement
As early as this year, major insurers, like large companies in other sectors, must report on ESG performance based on the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). For medium-sized insurers, this obligation will apply in 2025 and 2026. The larger insurers have now set up programs for this and have even developed the necessary reports. But these reports differ from each other: there is a lack of uniformly accepted standards. To prevent all insurers from developing their own reports, it was decided to start this project. After all, it is difficult to explain that exactly the same car emits more with one car insurer than with another insurer, simply because they use different calculation methods or source data. A joint approach is therefore more efficient for insurers and their customers and ensures better explainability to the regulator. Previously, the Innovation Platform conducted research into the joint procurement of ESG data , which led to this project.
Best practices
In the development of the catalogue of standards, existing best practices within and outside the financial sector (such as those of the NVB, Bovag or individual companies that are already well advanced with their standards) are aligned as much as possible. At the same time, the Association expects that other sectors will turn to the financial sector for consultations about or to align their standards. The Association's project offers an excellent platform for such conversations to learn from each other.
Supervision of CSRD implementation priority
Supervision of the implementation of the CSRD is a priority for the AFM. Cooperation facilitates discussions with the regulator. The regulator that supervises mutual competition, the ACM, has already determinedthat banks may cooperate in the development of sustainability reports. The Association is now also going to work on this. Of course, with an eye and attention to the mutual competitive relationships.