Insurance covers the requirements for protection sought by citizens in order to be able to deal with possible future occurrences that may alter their lives and affect them personally (life, death, illness and accident insurance), their basic assets (home, vehicles), their professional, commercial or industrial activity or their resources in general (civil liability). Taking out an insurance policy makes it possible to transfer the risks to which we are routinely exposed to insurance agencies, who accept those risks subject to the payment of a premium. In the case of an event corresponding to such a risk transpiring, the relevant insurance agency responds by making a compensatory payment to the person who has suffered as a result thereof, with a view to restoring a situation equivalent to that in which they found themselves prior to the occurrence of the event.
The Directorate-General of Insurance and Pension Funds (DGSFP) supervises and controls Spain's insurance and pension fund sector. It is responsible for ensuring that the sector functions properly and for providing customers of insurance agencies and members of pension funds with appropriate protection. To that end, it is empowered to regulate, issue instructions to and supervise the institutions that compose the sector, thus guaranteeing proper operation in accordance with current legislation. The DGSFP is also charged with authorising new institutions wishing to work in the sector and with monitoring the business operations undertaken thereby. The website of the DGSFP contains the information necessary for insurance agency customers who feel that their interests are not being protected to submit any complaints or claims which they deem relevant to the Claims Service of the Directorate-General.
The Insurance Compensation Consortium (CCS) is a public business organisation answerable to the Spanish Ministry of Finance and the Economy through the Office of the State Secretary for the Economy. Since its inception, the CCS has served the insurance sector by complementing the cover provided thereby for certain social needs that have proven to be particularly difficult for the market to meet, working on the basis of the principles of solidarity, compensation, cooperation and subordination. The Consortium has a history of dealing with different areas of insurance, in line with the aforementioned needs, notably including its duties as regards cover for extraordinary risks (natural disasters and acts with serious social repercussions, such as terrorism); in the combined agricultural insurance system; where compulsory vehicle insurance is concerned; in relation to the liquidation of insurance agencies; and in other fields of lesser significance in terms of the level of activity involved, such as export credit insurance, compulsory travel insurance, compulsory hunting insurance and insurance against nuclear risks.
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