A communications “farce” with the forerunner to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ranks among the most stressful experiences protection expert Alan Lakey has faced while working in the sector.
To mark Stress Awareness Month, Health & Protection asked advisers to recount their most stressful experiences while working in the sector and how they overcame them.
Alan Lakey, director at CIExpert (pictured), spoke to Health & Protection about an incident which took place 20 years ago when the then Financial Services Authority (FSA) – the forerunner to the FCA – required advisers to fax through confirmation of PI insurance renewal.
“For whatever reason, the FSA stated that despite faxing the self-certification document three times they never received it,” Lakey explained.
“This descended into farce when they told me that the self-certification document was no longer acceptable and that I needed to supply the actual policy document.
“The insurer typically issued the document three months after renewal and I explained this. Nonetheless they insisted on it and stated that I would have to relinquish my permissions if it wasn’t available by the following week.”
Lakey claimed that when he refused to do this, the FSA threatened legal action.
“I told them I could provide a cover note but they refused this,” he continued.
“I suggested that they contact my PI broker and they told me they had. I asked them what he had told them and they agreed that he’d told them that I had paid the premium and was insured.
“Clearly they had contacted him hoping that he would say I wasn’t covered,” Lakey alleged.
“Despite this they still insisted on seeing the actual policy document.”
Lakey said he told the FSA he had been in touch with the national press who were interested in covering the matter.
And this information caused an about turn.
“He then changed his tune somewhat and suggested that he could speak to the insurance company for confirmation of cover,” Lakey added.
“He did this and I received a letter from the FSA confirming that they were now satisfied that I held acceptable PI cover. However, they stated, the cover had not been in place until July when the renewal date was actually 23 May. Therefore I had been trading without cover for an eight week period.
“I spoke to my PI broker who made enquiries of the insurer. He related that the PI insurer had confirmed that I was covered and had told the FSA that he was actually signing off the policy at that moment.”
But Lakey claimed that despite working within the FSA PI department, his FSA contact did not seem to understand that ’signing off the policy’ was not the same as being on risk.
“I then wrote a letter of complaint to the FSA requesting an investigation into the harassment and nonsense that I had endured,” Lakey added.
“They acknowledged the complaint and stated that they would revert to me shortly. Twenty years later I am still waiting.”
