General Insurance

Recent Articles

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  30/07/2024

  FCA begins review of commercial and bespoke insurance regulation

  The Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) has issued a discussion paper DP24/1 (“DP”) initiating a comprehensive review of the regulation of commercial and bespoke insurance businesses.The primary objective of this DP is to solicit feedback to determine whether the FCA’s current rules appropriately balance between safeguarding customers who may require regulatory protection and the competitiveness in the commercial non-investment general insurance market. The FCA acknowledges the potential for changes that could better align these priorities, changes that have been much...

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  22/07/2024

  Key Takeaways from our AI in Financial Services Panel Event

  During our recent panel event on Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) in Financial Services, the panel explored how firms are implementing AI in practice, the application of legal, regulatory and ethical frameworks to AI, and potential challenges for firms and regulators. An audience of legal, compliance and business professionals from across the sector made interesting contributions to the debate. The session operated under the Chatham House rule, but here are some of the key takeaways from what was a fascinating discussion....

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  27/06/2024

  FCA publishes Consumer Duty outcomes review – what do I need to know?

  The FCA has published the results of its multi-firm review into Consumer Duty outcomes monitoring. Although the review concentrated on 20 of the larger insurance firms, the FCA’s observations are relevant to all retail financial services firms and all firms should consider the review’s findings.What are the key takeaways for firms?Firms tend to concentrate too much on processes being completed rather than on outcomes being delivered. For example, reporting on whether there are overdue value assessments or product reviews, without providing any insight into the key findings, lessons...

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  11/02/2020

  Insurance 2020: The Customer Lens

  What will that mean in practice? Perhaps most telling is Mr Woolard’s comment that the “Principle for Business [which] requires firms to communicate in a way which is fair, clear and not misleading, and [pay] due regard to the information needs of its clients … seems like too low a bar”. The Principle focuses on the firm’s processes, rather than the outcome the FCA is looking for – which is consumers understanding their options; and the FCA’s concern is that even if firms comply with the numerous rules regarding disclosure, there is no guarantee that the...

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  30/01/2020

  Insurance 2020: The Belgian perspective

  The Belgian regulators, the National Bank of Belgium and the Financial Services and Markets Authority, have welcomed UK insurers and brokers to Belgium and shown flexibility and understanding about their need to transfer their activities to Belgium gradually in order to maintain operational continuity. They have also promised to apply the proportionality principle in their supervision of firms. That said, the regulators have made clear that they want to see viable standalone Belgian operations and the operations set up initially will not suffice. Given how many times exit day has been postponed...

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  21/01/2020

  Insurance 2020: InsurTech and the future of retail insurance

  With Open Banking, the consumer, engaging via an app or website, chooses whether or not to give that app or website permission to access data that is already held by another. If they change their mind, the app or website should make it easy for them to withdraw their consent. The evidence to date is that consumers are already taking up Open Banking products and services. We are seeing many regulated apps and service providers bringing innovative financial products and services to the market. That in turn is sparking a new conversation - can Open Banking become a blueprint for the wider digital...

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