As holiday season approaches, a highly practical and informative article in this week’s NLJ assesses the impact of the Consumer Duty on travel insurance and distribution
Mark Lee, partner, and Teja Picton-Howell, consultant, Penningtons Manches Cooper, set out the context, explain how the duty is likely to be applied, and offer advice to lawyers on how best to guide their clients’ responses to the regulatory change.
The Consumer Duty has been in force for sales of open products since July 2023 and will apply to closed products and service from July 2024.
The authors draw on their experience in travel law and insurance to explain how the duty will work in practice, setting out the steps to follow and discussing the potential impact on claims. They write: ‘Some firms (across all financial sectors) have found the duty’s seemingly nebulous character and the change in mindset required challenging because it is very different to the binary, rules-based approach that regulatory lawyers and compliance officers are accustomed to. But is the duty that difficult to apply? We think not…’
