The Financial Services Authority
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) is the body, which regulates the sale of long (e.g. life and health) and short-term (e.g. motor and household) insurance. Following the demise of the self regulating General Insurance Standards Council the FSA is to require all agents undertaking insurance business to be compulsorily compliant with certain conditions by January 2005.
The conditions relate to areas such as:
- Handling clients money
- Capital Requirements
- Professional Indemnity cover
- Product disclosure
- Competence of staff - continued assessment and training
- Recruitment and supervision of staff
- Renewal processes and timescale's
The FSA will need to approve all applicants and written evidence must be provided to support all claims made by the agent.
The deadline for compliance is January 2005 and any organisation not approved compliant with the FSA by that date will have to cease trading.
