We do not regulate the manner in which insurance is provided by these companies or the types of insurance they provide. Those important aspects of the firms’ activities are the province of state insurance supervisors.
First, negative rates barely apply to firms, and even less so to households. They are, by and large, levied on banks. And, second, charging banks to leave their funds overnight at the ECB has created a “hot potato” effect: it discourages banks from hoarding cash and gives them an incentive to extend credit to firms and households instead.