In this Policy Statement we report on the main issues arising from Consultation Paper 15/13 (General Insurance Add-ons Market Study – Proposed Remedies: Banning opt-out selling across financial services and supporting informed decision-making for add-on buyers) and publish the final rules and guidance.
Why are we issuing this Policy Statement?
Following our March 2014 General Insurance Add-Ons Market Study, we consulted in March 2015 on rules banning opt-out selling across financial services and improving information provided to customers buying general insurance add-ons.
We are now finalising our rules to ban opt-out selling and finalising both our Handbook and non-Handbook guidance to improve the information that is provided early on in the sales journey.
This policy statement therefore sets out an overview of the consultation feedback and our response on:
- our rules banning opt-out selling
- our Handbook guidance
We are also separately publishing the Finalised non-Handbook Guidance, including a summary of feedback received, which can be found in Appendix 2 of this document.
Policy Statement 15/22[1] [PDF]
Who is this PS aimed at?
This Policy Statement will primarily affect firms and customers in the general insurance market. The opt-out ban also extends to other financial sectors.
Firms and their representatives selling all types of add-ons to regulated primary products will therefore be affected by the rules.
What are the next steps?
The rules and Handbook guidance set out in Appendix 1 will come into force on 1 April 2016 and firms will be expected to comply from that date.
The finalised information provision non-Handbook guidance is included in Appendix 2 and has immediate effect. We expect firms to have made the necessary changes to their sales journey by 30 September 2016.
Want to find out more?
For more information: