Minister of the Economy David Clarinval has announced that the maximum technical interest rate for long-term life insurance will remain at 3.75% in 2027.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Article 216 of the Law of 13 March 2016 sets a maximum technical interest rate that insurance undertakings may, in principle, guarantee for long-term (more than 8 years) Class 21 life insurance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This rate is calculated annually on the basis of 85% of the average yield on 10-year Belgian government bonds over the previous 24 months, rounded to the nearest 25 basis points. Under the current law, it cannot be lower than 0.75% or higher than 3.75%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As we reported last year, Minister Clarinval used this power for 2026 to increase the maximum rate from 2.50% to the statutory ceiling of 3.75%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Minister has now decided to maintain the ceiling at 3.75% for 2027. In doing so, he has not followed the National Bank\u2019s proposal to lower the ceiling to 2.75% for 2027.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The discussion has meanwhile moved beyond the level of the ceiling itself. The preliminary draft law containing various provisions on insurance, approved at first reading by the Council of Ministers on 20 June 2026, provides for the abolition of the general cap on interest rates for long-term life insurance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the same time, the National Bank\u2019s prudential powers would be strengthened. Where an insurer offers clearly unrealistic interest rates, the National Bank would be able to intervene to have the situation corrected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The preliminary draft is currently before the Council of State for its opinion and will subsequently have to go through the parliamentary process. Once the new rules enter into force, the general interest rate ceiling would disappear. Until then, the current system remains applicable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For completeness, insurers can already today, subject to specific prudential conditions and for a limited period, guarantee a higher interest rate. The proposed reform goes further and aims to abolish the general cap itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Becobra considers that allowing scope for a more attractive guaranteed return can help generate additional inflows into Class 21 products and thereby support long-term capital accumulation. We also put forward this position during the consultation on the current regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In addition, the FSMA has confirmed that the statutory minimum return guarantee for supplementary pensions will remain at 2.50% in 2027. This guarantee is borne by the employer or sectoral organiser: where the return generated by the pension institution is insufficient to meet the statutory guarantee, the organiser must make up the difference. We also refer to our publication of 13\/07\/2026<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Minister of the Economy David Clarinval has announced that the maximum technical interest rate for long-term life insurance will remain at 3.75% in 2027. What is this about? Article 216 of the Law of 13 March 2016 sets a maximum technical interest rate that insurance undertakings may, in principle, guarantee for long-term (more than 8 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":12232,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[83,91],"rol":[81],"class_list":["post-12234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-life-insurance","tag-private","tag-slotje","rol-standaard-lid"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/becobra.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/becobra.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/becobra.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/becobra.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/becobra.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12234"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/becobra.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12234\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12244,"href":"https:\/\/becobra.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12234\/revisions\/12244"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/becobra.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/becobra.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/becobra.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/becobra.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12234"},{"taxonomy":"rol","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/becobra.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rol?post=12234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}