Consumer Insurance Contracts Update

Dear Member,

As previously advised, the remaining sections of the Act (Sections 8, 9, 12, 14 (subsections 1-5)) will come into effect on 1 September 2021. These sections deal with the areas of Utmost good faith, Duty of Disclosure, Misrepresentations and Renewals and are applicable to both financial and insurance brokers.

It is important to note that the provisions of the Consumer Insurance Contracts Act 2019 do not apply to non-consumers, i.e. to commercial clients that fall outside the definition of ‘Consumer’ as defined in the Financial Services & Pensions Ombudsman Act 2017. Brokers Ireland continues to liaise with Insurers in relation to the matter of commercial customers who are not consumers. Most insurers will have issued communications to you by this stage in respect of their processes for dealing with this.

We further remind members in respect of renewals, updated changes should have been in place by late June/early July to be ready in time for September renewals. In respect of new business, changes should be implemented by early/mid August.

To assist members, Brokers Ireland has:

• Drafted a document to highlight the impact of the Act on Broker procedures and processes which includes, as an aid, a checklist of changes required (which is also available as a standalone document);
• Updated summary and guidance document June 2021 (updates in red for ease of reference); and
• Updated the Brokers Ireland Terms of Business template to reflect the new changes (updates also in red).

These documents are available in the Compliance Support Section of the Brokers Ireland website in the Consumer Insurance Contracts folder.

We urge members to review these documents as there are significant new obligations on brokers in their dealings with consumer clients whether in respect of new business, renewals or MTAs.

If you have any queries on this subject, please contact us at compliance@brokersireland.ie