Minimum levels of insurance protection - Summary of roundtable: 6 December 2023

Osborne@wpieconomics.com Minimum levels of insurance protection Introduction In the report, the Great Risk Transfer, the IFoA recommended that: "government, in consultation with the IFoA and others with technical and industry expertise, determines the appropriate minimum level of insurance protection needed by all – including low-income families – to be financially resilient to specific risks and. [...] Questions that the roundtable considered included: • Which types of insurance cover should be seen as essential for financial resilience? • To what extent is low take up a supply side or a demand side issue? • What ‘levers’ can Government and regulators pull to increase take up of insurance to a defined level? • What is the role of mandation? How has this worked in other spaces? • How can insurers. [...] Roundtable participants made the case that this requires us to think about resilience and adaptability to climate change as being at the core of ensuring there are adequate levels of insurance protection, taking a systems-focused view of the whole picture. [...] It has been suggested by a range of consumer and civil society groups, that the FCA should also be required to have regard to financial inclusion as part of its remit, that is to support wider access to certain products. [...] • How can we take a product-based approach to defining minimum standards - product by product, how can we determine the minimum level of protection required by different groups of people? Establishing the minimum level of protection society aims to achieve is required before introducing strategies to address take up (one of which could be mandation).