The Slovakian insurance undertaking NOVIS has sold its life insurance product Wealth Insuring to a number of Icelandic policyholders in response to the European Union's Insurance Distribution Directive.

The NOVIS website reads: "Regarding the product Wealth Insuring, NOVIS has decided not to offer this product anymore, mainly as a result of a new European law – Directive (EU) 2016/97 on insurance distribution (IDD). The reason is that the directive in question requires a sales strategy within which this product may be offered mainly to clients with higher education and experience with the financial market. A similar view was also expressed by several regulators throughout Europe.

"However, this is not in line with the general strategy of NOVIS, since NOVIS strives to offer highly attractive insurance products that may be sold to a much broader target group.  For this reason NOVIS is going to offer a new product."

Slovakia is a member of the European Union and must therefore obey its laws. The new product will be based on three insurance funds: a low-volatility fixed-income fund; an equity fund with a very low cost ratio; and a sustainability fund that invests only in 'responsible' underlying assets.

All existing Wealth Insuring contracts remain valid. These are whole-life contracts in nature which provide insurance coverage until the demise of the policy holders.