Coronavirus: FCA expectations for insurance businesses

On 19 March 2020, the FCA issued a statement about the expectations it has of insurance businesses (insurers and brokers) in relation to consumers regarding Covid-19. 

It comments in particular on Travel, Motor, Home and Private Medical Insurance.

The emphasis is on requiring insurance businesses to show flexibility in their treatment of consumers, as well as to continue to treat them fairly and to communicate with them in clear terms. 

The opening paragraphs contain a useful summary of the FCA’s expectations:   

“We expect firms to consider very carefully the needs of their customers and show flexibility in their treatment of them. We are likely to see customers’ behaviours change because of the pandemic. For example, this could mean that customers may need to work from home or commute by car. We would not expect to see their ability to claim impacted by circumstances over which they have little control.

We expect firms to clearly communicate any policy exclusions that may impact the cover and use of individual policies. This applies both to new sales or changes to existing policies (either mid-term or at renewal) – they must clearly meet consumers’ demands and needs.”