Overview

This week’s review of key legislative and regulatory developments in Europe, court judgments and insurance market publications, from Norton Rose, covers: European Commission launches QIS5; FSA bans five individuals for insurance fraud; and FSA fines Zurich Insurance Plc £2,275,000 for failings in systems and controls to prevent loss of customers’ confidential information.

European Commission launches QIS5:
On 23 August 2010, the European Commission published a press release announcing that the fifth Quantitative Impact Study (QIS5) will be run by the Committee of Insurance and Occupational Pensions Supervisors (CEIOPS) from August until November 2010.

FSA bans five individuals for insurance fraud:
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has banned five individuals for failings in relation to insurance fraud. One of those banned, Andrew Jeffery, received a £150,000 fine. Jeffery, an insurance broker, failed to put in place insurance policies appropriately and sometimes not at all, leaving many of his customers who were vulnerable or elderly without coverage. Further, Jeffery had obstructed the FSA in their investigations by failing to report changes to the firm’s contact details and failing to produce documents at the request of the regulator. The fine given to Jeffery was one of the largest ever imposed upon an individual by the FSA.

FSA fines Zurich Insurance Plc £2,275,000 for failings in systems and controls to prevent loss of customers’ confidential information:
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has fined the UK branch of Zurich Insurance Plc (Zurich) £2,275,000 for breaches of Principle 3 and FSA Handbook rules SYSC 3.1.1R and SYSC 3.2.6R. The breaches occurred during the period 1 August 2007 to 14 August 2009.

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