The Welsh Liberal Democrat Spokesperson on Social Justice, Peter Black has welcomed moves by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to clamp down on poor practice in the selling of all kinds of protection insurance.
Mr Black’s comments come after the FCA announced plans earlier this month to improve competition and consumer protection in this sector after an eight-month investigation found poor competition, low levels of claims, and people potentially being overcharged by up to £200 million a year for products that they neither need nor use.
Mr Black said:
“You would have thought that after the miss-selling of PPI for which financial institutions are still being forced to pay out compensation to customer, the industry would have learned its lesson. You would clearly be wrong.
“Far too many people still complain to me about things like pre-ticked boxes on websites, overpriced travel insurance from travel agents and tour companies, add-on personal accident insurance, and expensive stand-alone insurance for items like mobile phones and tablets.
“That is why I support the FCA in seeking to ban pre-ticked boxes, to insist on the industry providing cooling-off periods so that people can change their minds, and to force companies to come clean about the number of successful claims up front so that customers can judge if an insurance really is value for money or just another rip-off.
“As fat-cat financial institutions won’t reform on their own, they must be forced to do so.”
