Section 4 Qualifying holdings

Article 61

On becoming aware of them, the insurance or reinsurance undertaking shall inform the supervisory authority of its home Member State of any acquisitions or disposals of holdings in its capital that cause those holdings to exceed or fall below any of the thresholds referred to in Article 57 and Article 58(1) to (7).

The insurance or reinsurance undertaking shall also, at least once a year, inform the supervisory authority of its home Member State of the names of shareholders and members possessing qualifying holdings and the sizes of such holdings as shown, for example, by the information received at annual general meetings of shareholders or members or as a result of compliance with the regulations relating to companies listed on stock exchanges.

Article 62

Member States shall require that, where the influence exercised by the persons referred to in Article 57 is likely to operate against the sound and prudent management of an insurance or reinsurance undertaking, the supervisory authority of the home Member State of that undertaking in which a qualifying holding is sought or increased take appropriate measures to put an end to that situation. Such measures may consist, for example, of injunctions, penalties against directors and managers, or suspension of the exercise of the voting rights attaching to the shares held by the shareholders or members in question.

Similar measures shall apply to natural or legal persons failing to comply with the notification obligation established in Article 57.

Where a holding is acquired despite the opposition of the supervisory authorities, the Member States shall, regardless of any other sanctions to be adopted, provide for:

Article 63

For the purposes of this Section, the voting rights referred to in Articles 9 and 10 of Directive 2004/109/EC, as well as the conditions regarding aggregation thereof laid down in Article 12(4) and (5) of that Directive, shall be taken into account.

Member States shall not take into account voting rights or shares which investment firms or credit institutions may hold as a result of providing the underwriting of financial instruments and/or placing of financial instruments on a firm commitment basis included under point 6 of Section A of Annex I to Directive 2004/39/EC, provided that those rights are, on the one hand, not exercised or otherwise used to intervene in the management of the issuer and, on the other, disposed of within one year of acquisition.