British brokers hail 'new era' of regulation following FCA reforms

By Ryan Hewlett

May 14 - (The Insurer) - British insurance brokers have hailed “a new era” of relations with UK regulators after the Financial Conduct Authority on Wednesday unveiled proposals to streamline its rulebook for the UK insurance market.

Opening the British Insurance Brokers’ Association annual conference this morning, the trade body’s CEO Graeme Trudgill welcomed the FCA’s consultation paper on proposals to remove “ineffective” or “duplicated regulation”.

Referring to it as the culmination of Biba’s close and constructive work with the FCA, Trudgill said the consultation will help towards “addressing so many of Biba’s key member manifesto regulation points”.

“We have rolled up our sleeves and got around the table with the FCA and our members and we have worked closely and constructively – together,” Trudgill told the annual industry gathering in Manchester.

The executive, who replaced long-standing CEO Steve White in July 2023, noted that the trade body has long campaigned for more proportionate regulation for “low-risk” insurance brokers.

This includes reducing the scope of the consumer duty to eligible complainants under the UK’s Financial Ombudsman Service, removing some of the specific insurance-focused rules, and simplifying the fair value assessment rules to give firms greater flexibility over what assessments are required and how frequently they need to be done.

The FCA said on Wednesday that the introduction of the consumer duty in July 2023 had allowed the regulator to scrap overlapping rules, including a requirement for insurers to annually review the value of their products.

Scaling back the scope of the consumer duty has been a key pillar in Biba’s lobbying agenda and featured prominently in the group’s 2025 manifesto, which was launched in January.

The watchdog also said it plans to create a new definition of insurance for large companies, a win for the sector following calls for commercial policies to be excluded from existing conduct and compliance rules.

Trudgill also confirmed in his speech that the FCA has listened to Biba’s request for faster authorisations and has formally responded to the trade body, setting out the improvements to be made, with a major programme of work under way to transform and move its authorisation forms onto a new IT platform.

He added that the FCA will also rationalise the number of forms required for authorisation, improving the user experience. Trudgill said the FCA’s approach “ultimately will help drive the government growth agenda”.

Trudgill’s speech also touched on the “new and fundamental changes” in technology which are affecting both brokers and their customers, the increasing use of AI and the launch of Biba’s first national advertising campaign, which is being launched to promote insurance brokers to SMEs.