The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) will consider the activities of reinsurers, portals, product comparison platforms, and lead generators as part of its pure protection review.
Outlining the terms of reference of its market study this morning, the regulator said while the activities of other market participants, such as reinsurers, portals, product comparison platforms, and lead generators, may influence the design, distribution and value of the product – these individual markets were not the direct focus of the market study.
But the regulator added it will examine the relevance of their activities to the extent that they influence outcomes for consumers.
The FCA further noted that insurers and intermediaries also carry out other activities.
It said that while these are not directly in the scope of the market study, but may be of interest if they materially impact the distribution of pure protection products.
For example, the regulator may be interested in the cross-selling of pure protection products as a secondary sale to a loan (including mortgages) or financial planning and wealth management advice.
The FCA previously said it would not be ruling out banning or capping loaded premiums on protection products and has admitted it ‘has concerns’ in the protection market.
Last year the FCA stated that its review into the operation of the pure protection market would include commission structures including loaded commission and the shrinking insurer market.
And last year the FCA also told Health & Protection said it would be collecting fair value data from pure protection insurance providers.