On 2 April 2020, the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB) published a news item in which they endorse the statement issued by the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) calling on insurers to suspend their dividend payments and share buybacks until more is known about the impact of COVID-19.
DNB fully endorses this recommendation, as it supports their recent recommendation to banks and insurers not to use their buffers for dividend payment or share buybacks for the time being. DNB expects the impact of the coronavirus on the economy to be substantial, but cannot foresee the scale and duration of this crisis. Therefore, the impact on insurers’ buffers is not yet known, since the effects of the crisis on the value of their investments and on their claims burden is still uncertain.