Insurance companies offering motor third party liability insurance that operate in Sweden must by law be members of Swedish Motor Insurers (TFF). Application for membership is free of charge. Membership includes financing TFF’s activities jointly and severally with other members and contributing to assisting anyone suffering loss or injury in road traffic.
How to apply for membership of TFF
There is no charge for applying for membership of TFF. Foreign insurance companies normally receive temporary membership pending completion of the formal procedure between the supervisory authorities concerned.
An application is to be made by an authorised representative of the insurance company and the following information must be included:
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Request for membership of TFF and information on the (approximate) date on which the insurance company plans to start offering motor third party liability insurance in Sweden.
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The insurance company’s postal and street address, telephone number and email address.
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Full contact details of individuals within the insurance company that are responsible for claims and insurance matters in relation to TFF and other insurance companies.
If the applicant is a non-Swedish insurance company that is to operate in Sweden, the application must also include the following:
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Information on whether operations are to be conducted from a secondary establishment in Sweden or through cross-border operations. In the case of a secondary establishment, please also state whether this is a general agent, branch or general representation. For cross-border operations without a fixed establishment in Sweden, please state who is the insurance company’s representative in Sweden under Section 5 of the Motor Traffic Damage Act.
The application should be sent in writing or via email to TFF. Please attach the required documents. TFF will then decide on membership.
After you have been admitted as an insurance company to membership of TFF you will be assigned a code. The code is important for the insurance company and for the Swedish Transport Agency.
What must members pay?
By law, insurance companies licensed for class 10 are obliged to be members of TFF and contribute to our activities. The motor insurance charge levied by TFF does not cover compensation to all individuals suffering damage. The members contribute the remainder.
Settlement is based on total gross premium revenue for direct motor third party liability insurance in Sweden.
The concept of annual risk is used for statistics in various contexts. Put simply; if two cars have been insured for 6 months each during the year, together they constitute an annual risk, which is to say the insured periods are added together to make one year. This means that you can count the number of days the policy has been valid and divide by 365 to obtain the total number of motor driven vehicles for which MTPL insurance has been taken out.
Members finance TFF through settlement
Under the Motor Traffic Damage Act the insurance companies that are members of TFF are jointly and severally liable for the financing of TFF's activities. TFF's revenues are collected in the form of motor insurance charges from owners of uninsured vehicles. The deficit arising, including the cost of the Road Traffic Injuries Commission, is divided among the members on the basis of market share in the area of motor third party liability insurance.
TFF's net income is specified in claims costs broken down by year of claim, motor insurance charges, asset management, other revenue and interest, as well as operating expense (including the Road Traffic Injuries Commission). Income for the current year is allocated on the basis of the members’ percentage share of the total premium volume for the year prior to the financial year.
Claims costs are recorded per claim year and are allocated in the same way as described above. There may be claims costs dating as far back as the 1970s. This means that premium volumes from the 1970s and onwards must be included in the settlement so that claims costs can be correctly allocated. The costs for each claim year must always be allocated on the basis of premium volume from the year before the claim year.
What must members report to us?
It is important that you notify us of changes in business structure, such as mergers, acquisitions or similar. This may have significance for your membership.
To enable the annual general meeting to make a decision on settlement and draw up a voting list, members must report the following statistics to us annually:
According to the Act, the mutual liability of the members is to be apportioned “according to the ratio between the amounts of the premiums for directly written motor third party liability insurance policies derived from operations here in the country and relating to each of them in the calendar year immediately preceding”.
The allocation between members as regards compensation to TFF is determined by the general meeting of the organisation. At the general meeting a voting list must also be drawn up which in accordance with the statutes is based among other things on ”the percentage of motor vehicles with motor third party liability insurance under annual risk in the year that is two years before the current calendar year, rounded to the nearest whole number”.
More about Swedish Motor Insurers