The House of Lords EU social and consumer affairs sub-committee has accepted the evidence of Britain's insurance industry that an EU Commission proposal to ban the use of gender in insurance would raise the cost of insurance for consumers, and in particular women, and would prevent companies from pricing risk effectively.
The ABI has also welcomed the committee's view that the European Commission should carry out a thorough impact analysis of its proposals before proceeding any further.
Stephen Sklaroff, deputy director general of the ABI, said: "The committee's report supports the UK's existing and robust sex discrimination legislation, which allows gender to be used as a factor in insurance when the data is relevant, reliable and objective.
"The commission's proposals as currently drafted would have the perverse effect of forcing women to pay more for their motor and life insurance.
"The committee is also right to take account of the special features of the UK's annuity market, and to point out that the Directive would not help women in retirement.
"We endorse the committee's view that other initiatives are needed to close what we have called the 'gender pensions gap'. We have recently proposed a package of measures to help achieve this."
