General Insurance Article - ABI responds to FCA warning on product governance warning

 James Dalton, ABI Director, General Insurance Policy says: “This is a useful stocktake of firms’ approaches to product value, particularly in the context of Covid-19. As the FCA acknowledges, the review found that most insurance products maintained their core utility and value during what has been an exceptionally challenging period for both customers and firms. The FCA also recognises evidence of good customer value including through premium refunds, extension of cover, individual customer support and the industry’s charitable donations through the ABI’s Covid-19 Support Fund.

 “Since the data was collected for this review, significant work has continued to take place across the industry to meet the enhanced product rules and the new governance rules scheduled to come into force in October and the new pricing rules due to be introduced by January. Together, these substantial reforms emanating from the GI Pricing Practices Market Study are a once in a generation opportunity to improve customer outcomes across the industry. Inevitably, whilst some firms will be more advanced than others in preparing for the new rules, all our members are fully committed to continuing to work with the regulator to ensure change is delivered on time.”