Insurance Times looks at highlights from Q1 2024 in its review of the year
January 2024 kicked off with a big market exit, as e-commerce giant Amazon made the decision to close down Amazon Insurance Store just 15 months after launching it in the UK.
At the time, Amazon’s exit generated much discussion around whether the failure of a big tech firm to penetrate into the insurance market would serve as a warning to other mega-sized tech firms.
The first quarter of the year also saw major regulatory news as the FCA flexed its newly assertive muscles.
30 January saw the regulator respond to fears that it would ban guaranteed asset protection (Gap) insurance sales, as they were potentially failing to provide fair value, before the announcement came on 9 February that multiple insurers had agreed to pause sales of the product.
This regulatory action has been warned of by the FCA, which said it would take action on any products that did not provide fair value.
What the story points to, however, is that future action on more products can be expected. Indeed, on 16 October the regulator warned that it was investigating the premium finance market to much controversy from insurance providers.
Also in Q1, one of Insurance Times’ most popular stories was a report on an offer from Belgian-owned insurer Ageas to acquire insurer Direct Line Group (DLG) for a sum of around £3.09bn.
Ageas was ultimately unsuccessful in its bid, but acquisition talk around DLG didn’t end there, with one of Q4’s biggest stories ultimately seeing it being acquired.
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