On 1 April 2017, new rules from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) aimed at increasing transparency and engagement at renewal in general insurance will be in force.
These rules require all renewal invitations to contain certain messages to encourage the policyholder to shop around, also the previous year’s premium will need to be shown in a prominent place.
Source Insurance has now implemented these changes. Invitations for any renewals due from 1 March 2017 will contain the previous year’s renewal premium and the message required by the FCA, along with some additional contextual information which explains the service provided by Source and the broker.
Kevin Paterson, the Source’s managing director, said: “We’ve offered an automatic re-quoting service for many years now, so we are well used to providing consumers with alternative quotes at renewal. Providing the previous year’s renewal premium is a logical next step, and we are uniquely placed to facilitate shopping around within our panel which will help protect the brokers renewal commission.”
“The FCA rules have been a long time coming, and we believe it’s right to implement these requirements ahead of the mandated deadline because it underscores our commitment to delivering our service with integrity,” added Phil Lewis, head of compliance.
“Providing brokers and policyholders with enough information to make informed decisions is something that we’ve always done, and so these rules are just a natural extension of our existing service.”