Insurance Regulation
With effect from 15 January 2005 the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 was implemented into the UK. The legislation requires compulsory registration off general insurance brokers, among other insurance businesses, with the Financial Services Authority (FSA) and the subsequent authorisation and regulation of the broker by the FSA.
Whilst dealing with many aspects of the financial services industry and its regulation the FSA authorises and regulates Premier Commercial for their insurance activity which is the conducting of general insurance and more definitively commercial insurance products. In this respect the FSA has as its objectives:
- encourage confidence in the insurance market place
- to increase public awareness of the regulatory nature of transacting insurance
- to create a platform of high level consumer protection
- to reduce the extent of financial crime arising from the financial services industry
It is now necessary for insurance broking firms and insurance companies to demonstrate competence and financial capability in handling insurance business and you should always ensure that any broker insurer you choose is authorised by the FSA. You can check for this information at www.fsa.gov.uk/register/ and you can obtain vital information about your choice of insurance partner.
The FSA has issued a guideline handbook for how insurance business should be conducted and there are a number of processes we follow which we hope help us assist the FSA in meeting its objectives. These include:
- establishing an agreement with you on how we should conduct our relationship with you as your agent
- ensuring we can offer a wide choice of authorised insurance companies suitably vetted by us in respect of their standards of customer service and maintenance of adequate solvency margins
- confirming all the terms and conditions of the recommended insurance company prior to your accepting the quotation
- keeping you aware of insurance cover you should consider to protect your business from risk
- protecting you from the risk of financial crime by ringfencing your money until it is paid to your insurance company or obtaining an agreement from your insurer that they will consider the premium paid to them as soon as you pay us.