Field notes
Duty to advise: what to take from the ACPR recommendation in force since 1 January 2026
· By Diane du Paty, CEO & co-founder · 1 min read
The ACPR recommendation in force since 1 January 2026 does not tell brokers how to do their job. It puts in writing what the regulator considers good advice, well given and well documented. What to take from it, and why it protects the broker.
The recommendation of the ACPR, the French insurance regulator, on the duty to advise came into force on 1 January 2026. Many read it as one more constraint. That is not what I read in it.
The document does not tell brokers how to do their job. It puts in writing what the regulator considers good advice, well given and well documented:
- understand the client’s real need;
- explain the covers and their limits;
- adapt the recommendation to the context;
- be able to justify the choices made together.
The point, in the end, is to capture and document better what brokers already do.
Why it is a protection
Clients trade off their covers more. Price discussions are tenser. Situations after a claim are examined more closely. In that context, the duty to advise protects the broker: documented advice is the proof, on the day a client says “I thought I was covered”, that the choice was made knowingly.
What to take from it
This recommendation does not complicate the trade. It restates a simple reality: in 2026, advice remains the broker’s value, provided it can be clearly demonstrated.
That is precisely what we build at Panora. Every step of a file is time-stamped and tied to its author, and the advice statement is generated on the firm’s template, from the analysis actually done. Traceability is not one more task. It is a by-product of the work.
To all our broker partners, we wish a thriving 2026, and duties to advise well given and well documented.
