With the city watchdog FSA unleashed on the intermediary firm, Whiteley Insurance Consultants, after it took over regulation of general insurance in January, it is imperative that travellers have their travel insurance policies checked hereafter.
Whiteley, which also operates as Kingfisher Travel Insurance and Kingfisher Insurance Services, was driven into liquidation by the industry regulator, Financial Services Authority (FSA). Whiteley is the first firm to shut down after FSA took over the reins of general insurance in January 2005.
FSA claimed that the firm was inappropriately selling policies to customers and putting them to high risk, as the policies sold to them were not guaranteed duly by an authorized insurer. This left most policy owners with no insurance at all.
Furthermore, the High court has hired a provisional liquidator, Pricewaterhouse-Coopers (PWC) for the firm’s liquidation. Meanwhile, PWC is consulting the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) to confirm whether customers can be provided with any outstanding claims or premium refunds in case of a bankruptcy.
In the event of the FSCS intervening in the matter, the scheme will be applicable to only those policies that have been purchased after the FSA started regulating general insurance, i.e. after January 14. In addition, it remains doubtful if policies taken through travel agents would be protected because these policies did not fall under FSA’s regulatory bracket.
However, PWC notified that not all Whiteley or Kingfisher travel policies could be considered redundant. Royal Liver offered to pay all claims referring to it and people owning policies guaranteed by Travel and Personal Underwriters, Gouda International and ACE European Group had been given protection until 6th May. Alternatively, those who had policies claiming to be underwritten by 'a panel of insurers' or ARISA Assurances SA were not secure and required another cover.
Posted
on : Fri, 06 May 2005 11:25 GMT | Insurance News
By : Rob Davis
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