Insurance, Fwu case: how to try to get your money back

Although a little behind schedule, letters are arriving these days for the filing of claims to the more than 100,000 Italian customers affected by the collapse of the Luxembourg insurance company Fwu life insurance Lux (Fll) for approximately EUR 300 million in countervalue.

This is an insurance group that was put into liquidation by the Luxembourg Court on 31 January last following the deterioration of its capital requirements, which became known about a year ago, and the impossibility of a reorganisation. Due to the large number of clients involved and the complexity of the procedure, the notices will be sent out gradually over the coming weeks: it now appears that only about one third of savers have received the letter.

"The timing of the receipt of the form will in no way affect the amount nor the timing of the payment of eligible claims in favour of each privileged creditor," recalled Ivass, which is closely following the matter under the jurisdiction of the Luxembourg-based Caa Authority. Moreover, the liquidator will give notice on the liquidation's website (https://fwulifelux.com/) of the conclusion of the dispatch procedure so that those who have not received the form can contact the liquidation directly and ask for explanations on the failure to send it'.

The four-page communication signed directly by the liquidator Maître Yann Baden, which Il Sole 24 Ore has viewed, is very clear and explains in question-and-answer form the modalities of the procedure. But the most important part concerns the declaration of the 'privileged' credit claimed by the insured: the figure is put in black and white and is a first certainty as to how much will be allocated to privileged creditors (who will be satisfied in priority to other subjects such as service providers).
An initial survey of the figures confirms that while single-premium policies and those of the 'latest generation' (Quant LT) show payouts that are not too penalising, for older contracts (such as My Joy or NRG+Life) the payable amounts are much lower than the invested amount due to the high loading costs taken at the beginning of the contract.

If the customer agrees with the amount calculated and proposed by the liquidator, he/she will only have to return the claim form to Fwu (to the appropriate email insinuazionepassivo@fwulifelux.com or by post), together with the required documents (identity card and certificate of account ownership). If, on the other hand, the insured person considers that the amount calculated by the liquidation as a preferential claim is not congruous, he/she must tick the "refusal" box and enter the amount that he/she considers to be correct, date, sign the form and return it together with the documentation justifying the increased amount claimed by the insured person, which will then be subject to assessment by the liquidator and the Luxembourg court.