Protection

Over half of consumers change some part of their buying decision AFTER receiving advice and product recommendations from IFAs, new research suggests.

Consultant Grant Thornton says a survey of 160 general insurance brokers, including 29 of the top 50 income earners, has found most are ignorant of the corporate and personal risks that regulation under the FSA will bring.

Six out of ten high earners now hold private health insurance, suggests research by Lloyds TSB Premier Banking.

Angioplasty, the technique of inflating balloons inside arteries to the heart to counter heart disease, will no longer be covered in future CIC policies issued by Norwich Union, the insurer says.

As we approach another new year, protection advisers should be looking forward to a busy 2004. What with FSA regulation to prepare for and, according to Swiss Re's latest report, a £2trn protection gap to help bridge, it should be an eventful year. However...

Law firm Reynolds Porter Chamberlain says protection intermediaries must tread carefully in approaching their applications for FSA authorisation in the coming months, as mistakes in the application process could lead to regulatory action against them...

Increased reinsurance capacity should ensure critical illness cover (CIC) products evolve over the coming year rather than face radical design, suggests IFA firm Lifesearch.

For quite some time, the long term care (LTC) market has remained fairly quiet. The sector has seen little innovation in terms of product development, and although sales have been growing in the immediate needs sector, they have continued to fall in the...

New pressures from the tax man could see protection products suffer further premium increases. A European court judgement has ruled insurers will have to pay VAT on GP reports, which are needed to gather medical evidence on some applications.

Financial advisers will be able to renew general insurance and pure protection contracts without the prior consent of the customer, providing their original contract allows them to do so, suggests the final Conduct of Business rules for general insurance...