Manifesto 2024: Biba calls for streamlined approach to regulatory reporting

Biba has urged the FCA to accelerate its work in simplifying regulatory reporting for insurance brokers.

In its 2024 manifesto, entitled Managing risk for growth and economic security, the body cited research indicating that insurance broker regulation had become a “disproportionate burden” and that current methods of regulatory reporting had a resource and cost impact.

Regulation was a key talking point in 2023, with the FCA introducing new Consumer Duty rules to place a slew of requirements on firms operating in the UK insurance market.

One of these requires companies in the sector to ensure that their products provide fair value to customers.

Biba highlighted that while regulatory reporting by brokers was important, senior employees dedicated many hours to the task and that businesses were also incurring external fees for accountants and compliance experts.

“Regulatory reporting by insurance brokers is an important tool for effective supervision by the FCA,” the association said in its manifesto.

“Biba calls for the FCA to accelerate its work to move to a more streamlined approach to data collections as a key driver of efficiency and reduced regulatory cost for firms.”

Growth and competitiveness 

Biba also hopes that the FCA’s new secondary objective for growth and competitiveness will align its regulatory approach with the government’s aim for growth.

On 29 June 2023, the Financial Services and Markets Act, which has been described as a “rocket boost for the UK economy”, was granted royal assent.

It introduces new secondary objectives for the FCA and PRA in a bid to facilitate the growth and international competitiveness of the UK economy.

This will be backed up by changes to enhance the scrutiny and accountability of the regulators.

Biba called for “robust and effective scrutiny of the new growth and competitiveness objective”.

“We want the new growth and competitiveness objective to deliver a healthy, competitive market for insurance buyers – both in terms of an increased number of market participants and a more proportionate cost of regulation, as this is ultimately passed onto consumers and businesses,” the association said.

“Biba supports a regulatory focus on customers that promotes trust and stability.

“Regulation also needs to underpin and facilitate a thriving and competitive market through clear and simple rules. This was a key point of our parliamentary lobbying during the passage of the Financial Services and Markets Act.”