Integrity

At Credendo  Short-Term Non-EU Risks we are committed to providing the best service to our clients. We therefore continuously strive to have the right procedures and tools in place to ensure that we provide our services with all required diligence and professionalism, with respect for honesty and business ethics, compliance with any laws, rules, regulations and the best practices of our sector.

The authorities that supervise us

Our activities are regulated and supervised, so you may be interested to know that:

  • we have obtained our license (N° 2385) to practice credit insurance (Branch 14) and surety (Branch 15) from the National Bank of Belgium, which is responsible for the so-called ‘prudential supervision’. The headquarters of the National Bank of Belgium are situated at: boulevard de Berlaimontlaan, 14, 1000 Brussels;
  • we are also supervised by the Belgian Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA) to ensure that we behave according to the rules safeguarding an honest insurance market.  The headquarters of FSMA are situated at: rue du Congresstraat, 12-14, 1000 Brussels;
  • we have the ‘European Passport’ for all countries in the European Economic Area uniting all EU Member States and the three EEA EFTA States (Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway) into an Internal Market governed by the same basic rules. This ‘European Passport’ enables us to conclude insurance policies with companies registered in the entire European Economic Area;
  • for our branches in the UK, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Italy, we also have contact with and are supervised by the local supervisory authorities.

Codes of conduct

To apply the best principles in this respect, the Executive Committee of Credendo  Short-Term Non-EU Risks has adopted an internal Integrity Policy and a Code of Conduct containing the core principles which anyone working for the Company should adhere to as well internally within the Company as towards any other person who has a relationship with the Company, such as the group companies, clients, providers, employees and other business partners.

The Insurance Distribution Directive (IDD) regulates how insurance products are designed and distributed in the EU. It sets out to harmonise the regulation of the insurance market across the European Single Market and to improve consumer protection standards. The aim of the IDD is to ensure that distributors take responsibility for consumer outcomes and that the products sold meet consumer needs. This European directive was transposed into Belgian legislation on 6 December 2018. In accordance with this regulation, Credendo – Short-Term Non-EU Risks is dedicated to the interests of its clients in a loyal, fair and professional manner.

Credendo  Short-Term Non-EU Risks has established a written policy regarding the management of possible conflicts of interest in delivering insurance services to its clients. You can find more details on this matter via this link.

Credendo  Short-Term Non-EU Risks has also concluded cooperation agreements with registered insurance brokers. These agreements include the remunerations the brokers receive as counterpart for the services they delivered (broker fee).

You can find more details on this matter via this link.

Credendo Short-Term Non-EU Risks is a member of Assuralia, the association of Belgian and foreign insurers, active on the Belgian market. As a member of that association, Credendo  Short-Term Non-EU Risks agreed to the ‘Code of Conduct of the Insurance Company’. Insurance companies want to comply with this set of rules with respect to all their stakeholders, namely clients, brokers, competitors, personnel, shareholders and regulators.

Credendo  Short-Term Non-EU Risks supports the principles of the Code of Conduct Credit Insurance; this is a gentleman’s agreement between all concerned parties describing the principles that apply to the credit insurance sector. This document has no legal value, but it does promote more transparency, better communication, professionalisation of the sector and increased sustainability.

Internal control functions such as the Compliance function ensure and monitor that we:

  • respect and apply all applicable legal and regulatory requirements,
  • follow any codes of conduct that are relevant to our business;
  • implement best practices in our procedures and activities; and
  • stay true to our internal principles and values (laid down in our Integrity Policy).

WHAT IF YOU ARE NOT SATISFIED WITH OUR SERVICE?

Although we aim to provide a service with all required diligence and professionalism, with respect for honesty and business ethics, complying with any laws, rules, regulations and the best practices of our sector, there may be circumstances where you are not satisfied with our service.

We value your opinion, as it will help us to improve our service and to resolve any compliance issues that may exist.

You can contact your usual contact person to let us know that you are not satisfied with our service. If you feel that action is required on a higher level or that the issue is too sensitive to discuss with your normal contact person, you can contact our Compliance department directly.

Attn. Geert Goossens
Compliance Officer
rue Montoyerstraat 3
BE-1000 Brussels

  • by phone: +32 2 788 85 14

In order to improve our service and to remedy any problem or obstacle within the organisation, we invite you to submit your problem or complaint directly to us. We will always seek to examine it within a maximum period of 14 days. If this turns out to be impossible, we will notify you in time. In this case, we will communicate the reason for the delay and the period within which we expect to process your file.

If you are not satisfied with the final decision, you can also refer the matter to the Ombudsman of the insurance sector: www.ombudsman.as

GROUP WHISTLEBLOWER POLICY

At Credendo, compliance with laws, procedures and internal policies is of great importance, because we believe that integrity, ethics and personal responsibility are key to the success of our business.

Our whistleblowing portal allows you to easily report, in a few simple steps, information about a crime or an offence, a threat or harm to the public interest, a violation or an attempt to conceal a violation of applicable and binding law (laws, regulations, etc.), integrity principles or a breach of our Code of Conduct.

The portal also allows you to submit an anonymous report. You will then be able to continue to communicate with the investigators about the substance of your report without revealing your identity.

Whistleblowing reports are handled by the Compliance department in a confidential manner and in accordance with the regulations in force.

The legal protection of the whistleblower applies to the extent that the person submitting the report acts in good faith, meaning they have reasonable grounds to believe that the information reported was correct at the time of reporting.

To access the whistleblower platform, click here.

Although the internal reporting channel is our preferred way to receive any violation reports, you can also submit an external report to the supervisory authorities such as the Belgian National Bank, Financial Services and Market Authority, or the Federal Ombudsman.