"We expect all life insurers to act on our findings and avoid unnecessary delays with claims."
- Matt Brewis, Director of Insurance at the FCA
Although the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) multi-firm review revealed evidence for good practice, such as firms providing bereavement support for claimants, there continue to be challenges in providing timely service - for example, obtaining medical evidence needed to assess a claim.
The industry watchdog warned that while firms provide good service to bereaved customers, they need to settle claims quicker and improve their measurement of customer experience.
On average, the FCA found firms take between 53-122 days to process a term insurance claim, followed by 36 days for Group Life Assurance, 20 days for over-50s policies, and 53 days for Whole of Life (WOL). These figures are based on data collected from fifteen insurers, which represent over 75% of in-force policies in the market.
Moving forward, the regulator will be engaging with the industry to collectively improve customer outcomes and address these findings. It will do further work to understand what changes have been made and will act if it doesn’t see improvements.
“The loss of a loved one can be intensely stressful and we expect firms to offer the right support to help their customers during this difficult time. We expect all life insurers to act on our findings and avoid unnecessary delays with claims,” said Matt Brewis, Director of Insurance at the FCA.
