Definition:Loi Bourquin
📜 Loi Bourquin is a French legislative measure, formally enacted as an amendment to the broader Sapin 2 legislation in 2017 (and effective from January 2018), that grants policyholders the right to switch their mortgage insurance (assurance emprunteur) on each anniversary date of their loan contract. Named after Senator Martial Bourquin, who championed the amendment, the law extended the consumer protections previously introduced by the Loi Hamon — which allowed substitution only during the first twelve months — into an annual, ongoing right applicable for the full duration of the mortgage.
⚙️ Under the mechanism established by Loi Bourquin, a borrower may replace their existing mortgage insurance policy with a competing product, provided the substitute contract offers a level of coverage at least equivalent to the one required by the lending bank. The borrower must notify their lender in writing at least two months before the policy anniversary date. The bank then has ten business days to accept or reject the substitution, and rejection is permitted only if the replacement policy demonstrably fails to meet the equivalence-of-guarantees test. This framework compels lenders and their affiliated insurers — who historically bundled mortgage insurance with loan origination at non-competitive rates — to face genuine market pressure from external insurance providers, mutuelles, and insurtech challengers offering more attractive pricing or tailored coverage.
🔑 The law's impact on the French insurance market has been transformative. Before Loi Bourquin and its predecessors, banks captured the overwhelming majority of mortgage insurance premiums through captive distribution at the point of sale. The annual switching right has gradually eroded this dominance, opening the market to independent insurers and digital platforms that compete on price, transparency, and user experience. For the broader insurance industry, Loi Bourquin exemplifies a regulatory trend across European markets toward empowering consumers with greater portability and choice, pushing incumbents to improve their value propositions and accelerating the adoption of digital comparison and switching tools.
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