The identity gap in Dutch insurance
Measuring the distance between what customers expect and what insurers deliver.
Dutch non-life insurance premiums represent 7.3% of GDP, above the EU average. Products in most lines are largely undifferentiated, and a significant share of new customers arrive through price comparison platforms where the insurer competes on premium alone. Independer, the market-leading comparison site, converts roughly one in three visitors and commands 35% usage among Dutch consumers who shop that way.
The relationship that survives acquisition lives almost entirely in digital channels: the customer portal, the app, the claims flow, the renewal journey. When the underlying offer is commoditised and switching takes a few clicks, the digital identity experience becomes one of the only levers left. Treating the customer portal as a cost centre is a competitive decision, whether the insurer intends it or not.
Two moments decide who makes it through
Acquisition brings a new customer to the door. Signing the contract and verifying identity at onboarding decide whether they actually make it through, and both are where Dutch insurance falls shortest of what customers expect.
Contract signing
Most insurers still rely on click-to-accept or an emailed PDF: little trust, no verified identity, at exactly the point where a customer commits to a financial product and hands over personal data. It is the touchpoint customers rate as important and insurers deploy the least for.
Confirming a new customer's identity
Verification typically happens after the contract is signed, at the exact moment customer motivation is lowest. A customer who stalls on document uploads or repeated data entry leaves the insurer holding a signed but inactive, non-revenue-generating contract.
In April 2026, itsme commissioned NielsenIQ to survey consumers across Belgium and the Netherlands on how their providers handle digital identity, including 515 Dutch and 503 Belgian insurance customers. Almost two-thirds of Dutch non-health insurance consumers name an external ID app as their first choice for confirming identity. This is a preference, not a compromise they tolerate.
63% of Dutch non-health insurance consumers say an external ID app should be the standard method for confirming a new customer's identity.
Identity Maturity Index 2026, NIQ Growth Spaces
What drives people away
The sharpest signal comes from what stops someone becoming a customer at all. Across regulated sectors, the single biggest barrier is being asked to record a video of yourself holding your ID card, yet that is still the standard onboarding method at many insurers.
Share of consumers who say this requirement would stop them becoming a customer. Identity Maturity Index 2026, NIQ Growth Spaces.
When NIQ asked consumers to rate brands offering itsme against brands that do not, itsme brands scored higher on every measured attribute. In a sector where products are commoditised and switching is easy, that brand perception gap carries real commercial weight.
Brand image scores out of 10, Belgian consumers. Identity Maturity Index 2026, NIQ Growth Spaces.
Health insurers and non-health insurers serve much the same consumers, yet they sit in completely different places on the maturity index. The reason is regulatory, not commercial. Health insurers are classified as semi-public organisations and required by law to offer DigiD, the Dutch government's identity scheme. Non-life insurers, covering home, car, travel and liability, are not classified as semi-public and cannot use DigiD. They build their own identity infrastructure, or they don't.
Health insurers
Seven health insurers cluster tightly within a 2-point band. A mandated government identity scheme across every touchpoint puts the whole segment near the top of the index by design.
Non-health insurers
Seven non-health insurers span a 30-point range, from the barely-digital to genuinely strong, all serving the same customer base. The variable is not budget. It is which identity method is the default.
Within the non-health segment, the login data tells the clearest story: what separates a high maturity score from a low one is not whether a stronger identity method is on offer, but whether it is the default customers actually use. Most people default to what they know, a username and a password, even when a stronger option sits right next to it. Making the stronger method the only option, not merely an alternative, is what turns it into a better score and a better experience.
Each point on the maturity scale is a moment where the customer experience falls short: at onboarding, at login, across every channel. Aggregated across a portfolio, those moments become four measurable costs. None of them appear on a line labelled "identity." That is precisely why they persist.
Fixing onboarding while leaving login on username and password, or improving login while leaving contract signing on email and PDF, produces a better score on one metric and leaves the underlying fragmentation exactly where it was. What actually moves the maturity score is one trusted layer that verifies, authenticates and signs across every touchpoint, rather than a different solution for each.
itsme has been available to every Dutch insurer since June 2026, live at eIDAS Level of Assurance High, the level the EU Digital Identity Wallet will require by the end of 2026. It handles identity verification at onboarding, passwordless login across web and app, qualified electronic signature for contracts and policies, and transaction confirmation, on your existing systems. Integration happens one touchpoint at a time, so the timeline is yours, not a full rebuild.
For non-health insurers specifically, DigiD is closed off and there has, until now, been no government-grade equivalent to close the gap with health insurers. itsme fills that gap.
Key takeaways
- The identity maturity gap is measurable and large: Dutch insurance scores 56 on identity maturity against 76 on consumer importance, a 20-point gap that shows up in conversion rates, support costs, fraud provisions and compliance exposure. It is not a perception problem.
- Consumer demand for a better solution already exists: 63% of Dutch non-health insurance consumers want an external ID app as the standard for identity confirmation.
- The health and non-health split shows the problem is solvable: health insurers score 10-12 points higher than non-health peers, with the same consumers and the same expectations. The only variable is infrastructure.
- Offering a stronger method is not enough. It has to be the default. When a stronger option sits alongside username and password, most customers still choose the path they already know.
- The moment to act is now. itsme is live in the Netherlands, the EU Digital Identity Wallet deadline is approaching, and the gap between identity leaders and laggards in Dutch insurance is becoming commercially visible.
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