Kilka refleksji w sprawie opłaty likwidacyjnej w umowie ubezpieczenia na życie z ubezpieczeniowym funduszem kapitałowym
A few reflections on the termination fee in the unit-linked life insurance contract

Summary/Abstract: The dispute concerning the unit-linked life insurance contract has been caused by insurers’ practice consisting in including, in the general conditions of insurance, a clause which stipulated that in the case of termination of the contract during the first two years of its term the insurer has the right to collect the termination fee corresponding to 100 percent of the principal amount paid in by the policyholder or insured person. The main objection against the termination fee comes down to the statement that due to its structure unit-linked life insurance contracts lead to the loss of as much as 100 percent, or a significant part, of the money they have invested in the event in which the contract is terminated prior to the date indicated on the day on which it was entered into. The practice shows that even if the termination fee rate in the first year of the unit-linked life insurance contract is below 100 percent,insurers use high initial fees which reduce the part of the premium earmarked for investment. ...ssen- tially, it is a well-diagnosed in the theory of insurance problem of high initial costs of the life insurance contract in general. The amount of such a fee and legal solutions should take into account actual costs incurred by the insurer in connection with entering into the contract and performing it, long-term na- ture of the unit-linked insurance contract, which affects the amount of initial costs and period of their depreciation, the risk of transferring initial costs of entering into a long-term unit-linked contract from short-term “participants” of unit-linked contracts to long-term “participants” of such contracts, insurer’s decent profit, the rule that a person who benefits from investment takes the risk and costs involved in it, and the fact that terminating a long-term (multi-year) investment contract in the initial period is irrational from the economic point of view.

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