Credendo – Guarantees & Speciality Risks

At Credendo – Guarantees & Speciality 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° 2364) 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 most countries in the European Economic Area uniting all EU Member States 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 Austria, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain and Switzerland, 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 – Guarantees & Speciality 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.

In accordance with the European MiFID (Markets in Financial Instruments Directive) regulations and the provisions of the Belgian Act of 30 July 2013 to strengthen the protection of consumers of financial products and services, Credendo – Guarantees & Speciality Risks is dedicated to the interests of its clients in a loyal, fair and professional manner.

Credendo – Guarantees & Speciality 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 – Guarantees & Speciality 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 – Guarantees & Speciality 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 – Guarantees & Speciality 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 – Guarantees & Speciality 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 notice inappropriate behaviour or 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, compliance with any laws, rules, regulations and the best practices of our sector, there may be circumstances where you believe our behaviour was inappropriate or where you are not satisfied with our service.

We value your opinion, which 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 have noticed an issue or are not satisfied. If you feel that action is required on a higher level or that the issue is too sensitive to resolve with your normal contact person, you can contact our Compliance department directly (see below How to report a compliance issue or file a complaint?).

How to report a compliance issue or file a complaint

To ensure that our Compliance function can treat the issue you reported or your complaint and find a suitable solution, we invite you to send us a description of the issue or complaint and include your contact details:

• by email:  f.warson@credendo.com
• by letter:  Credendo – Guarantees & Speciality Risks

Attn. The Compliance Officer
Avenue Roger Vandendriessche 18
BE-1150 Brussels

• by phone: on 02/774.42.56 – ask to speak to the Compliance Officer

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. 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 this delay and the period within which the handling of your file is likely to be completed.

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

Ombudsman of the Insurance Sector
de Meeûssquare 35
BE-1000 Brussels
https://www.ombudsman-insurance.be/