, Chair of the Treasury Committee, has today written to Huw
Evans, Director General of the Association of British Insurers
(ABI), to seek answers on how the insurance sector is responding
to coronavirus at a time when many will look to their insurer for
both flexibility and assurance.
Following the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA’s)
guidance to insurance firms on what it expects of them during
this time, Mr Stride has written to the ABI to further understand
the industry’s response to coronavirus.
The questions asked by Mr Stride are below:
• How
many of your members (by type of cover, e.g.
commercial, travel) have ceased to offer a product
since the onset of the crisis?
- Where
products have ceased to be offered, can you provide the type
and number of products that have been taken out of the
market?
• How
many of your members (by type of
cover) have changed the terms of a product:
- While it
is in force (number of products and type)
- At renewal
(number of products and type)
- At initial
purchase (number of products and type)
• Can
you provide examples, by product, of how policies have changed,
while in force, at renewal or at initial purchase?
• Can
you provide, on a weekly basis since 1 January 2020, the
aggregated number of policies sold by type of cover, separated by
renewal or initial custom?
• Can
you provide information on how firms have communicated to
customers, both current and potential, how things have changed in
the market, and where exclusions, or changes in when policies can
be called upon, have also changed?
• Can
you provide an estimate of the amount of money, in aggregate,
your firms expect to pay out for business disruption in the face
of the coronavirus?
• Can
you provide details of the approach that your members are taking
in respect of business interruption insurance, given the
government’s recent announcements concerning the effective moment
of the requirement for businesses to close?
• Can
you provide details of the approach that your members are taking
regarding the provision of cover for the costs to business
relating to Covid-19 and where there may be some flexibility
shown in respect of this element of potential cover?
• Given
that the NHS has secured an agreement to use private hospital
facilities and staff, what are the implications for the cover
that firms are able to provide to individuals with private health
insurance policies?
Notes to Editors
-
Mr Stride’s letter to Mr Evans is attached.
-
The Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA’s) recent
communication to insurance firms, Insurance and
coronavirus (Covid-19): our expectations of firms (19 March
2020), is here.
