De Goudse must pay about €12.5m over costly woekerpolis policies
Customers of insurer De Goudse with a woekerpolis, an investment policy with high costs, can now expect compensation after 90% of affected customers accepted their settlement offer.
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Illustrative photo: Friedrich Haag / CC BY-SA 4.0
The insurer De Goudse must now pay about €12.5m in compensation for woekerpolissen, policies that were sold with high costs charged on the premiums invested. The 90% acceptance threshold for the deal has been reached.
The insurer struck the deal in January 2025 with the Consumentenbond (the Dutch consumers' association) and the claim foundations ConsumentenClaim, Stichting Woekerpolisproces, Vereniging Woekerpolis.nl and Wakkerpolis. It could succeed only if 90% of the affected policyholders accepted the personal offer made to them.
The Consumentenbond urges customers who have not yet accepted their offer to do so quickly, so they are included in the payout without delay. Its director, Sandra Molenaar, said: "For these consumers, a long-running case is finally over."
Payments can begin now, via ConsumentenClaim, which carries out the settlement. "It won't all be wrapped up tomorrow. It could still take three to six months before everything is settled," said its director, Stef Smit.
Allianz, ASR/Aegon, Nationale Nederlanden, Achmea and Reaal had already settled, which means the largest Dutch insurers all have a deal. The Consumentenbond says customers who have or had an investment insurance policy with ERGO Insurance, KBC groep, Legal & General/Scildon, Onderlinge 's-Gravenhage and Waard verzekeringen can still contact it.
An estimated seven million woekerpolissen were sold in the Netherlands, with a total value of €100bn. According to the AFM, the financial markets regulator, probably about 2 million were still running in 2018.
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Consumentenbond
The Dutch consumers' association. It tests products and services, publishes the results and advises consumers; it is funded mainly by its members.
AFM (Autoriteit Financiële Markten)
The Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets, which supervises financial markets and how financial firms treat consumers and investors.
woekerpolis
A Dutch life insurance policy that combines insurance with investing, where the premiums put into investments carried high costs that reduced the savings the policyholder built up. The high charges were often not transparent to the buyer, which is why these policies are called woekerpolissen ("usury policies"). Holders of such policies may be able to claim compensation from the insurer.