Commenting on today’s report from the Competition and Markets Authority on pricing practices across a range of products, Huw Evans, Director General of the Association of British Insurers, said:
“Three quarters of insurance customers benefit from shopping around, but we accept there needs to be a better balance between the deals offered to new consumers and the interests of long-standing customers. That is why insurance is the only sector of those looked at by the CMA to have already taken voluntary, industry-wide action to tackle the concerns being raised. The insurance industry is committed to working constructively with the regulators as they take this forward.”
Background
The ABI and BIBA (British Insurance Brokers Association) launched a set of Guiding Principles and Action Points in May. Key commitments include:
- ABI and BIBA members will take action so that customers’ tendency to shop around at renewal is not used to lead to excessive pricing differences that unfairly penalise long-standing customers.
- The ethos and approach to better outcomes for long-standing customers will be given Board or senior management level priority and formally incorporated into firms’ procedures for determining the premium at renewal.
- ABI and BIBA members should make clear in written, online or verbal customer communications that the new customer premium only applies for that year and subsequent renewal premiums may be higher.
- ABI and BIBA members who impact the final premium paid by customers should review their pricing approach for customers who have been with them longer than five years and assess whether this approach delivers a fair outcome.
- The ABI and BIBA will publish a report in no more than two years’ time that demonstrates how ABI and BIBA members have sought to tackle excessive differences between new customer premiums and subsequent renewal premiums that unfairly penalise long-standing customers