The House of Lords Industry and Regulators Committee will hear from both the London & International Insurance Brokers’ Association (LIIBA) and the London Market Group (LMG) as part of its inquiry into the regulation of the UK commercial insurance and reinsurance market, which opens tomorrow.
Last week, the Committee published a call for evidence for an inquiry into the London marketplace, designed to “explore the extent to which regulatory policy is well-designed and proportionately applied and the possibilities for optimising policy following Brexit.”
The inquiry will explore the role of both the Bank of England and the UK market regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), and evaluate the effect of regulation on customers and the London market’s global competitiveness.
LIIBA’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Christopher Croft and Caroline Wagstaff, CEO of the LMG, are the first two industry representatives to discuss how they see the future of commercial re/insurance regulation.
An announcement from the Committee notes that as it opens its inquiry into the market’s regulation tomorrow, it will discuss a number of areas with the witnesses.
This includes: The size and significance of the insurance and reinsurance market relative to the wider UK financial sector; whether regulation of the industry in the UK is proportionate and how it can be improved; and whether UK regulation in the sector encourages or discourages innovation.
Additionally, it will examine Solvency II and ask the representatives if the UK, despite Brexit, is still largely dependent on EU regulation policy in setting the climate for insurance regulation in this country? And, whether the insurance industry would like to see regulation in the UK move away from policies in the EU?
Finally, the witnesses will be asked to provide evidence on whether regulation has caused insurers to base themselves outside the UK and whether a requirement on regulators to support UK competitiveness in the international market would be of benefit.
