SA2: Topical issues (last updated 22 December 2006)

It is important that Subject SA2 students take the opportunity to keep abreast of current developments in life insurance. It is possible that some exam questions may cover topical issues that are not covered explicitly by the Course Notes alone.

We've produced a document about topical issues and this is attached as a pdf. It provides a brief summary of a number of issues and weblinks to further sources of information.

Please use this thread to add any comments about topical issues and recommend any useful sources of further information.

 

I will be preparing a new topical issues page shortly. If there are any topics of interest that anyone would like to hear about then please post your comments below.

 

The following papers consider recent developments in annuities and can be downloaded from the SIAS website:

Variable annuities by Abbey and Henshall

Reinventing annuities by Wadsworth, Findlater, and Boardman

Annuity and insurance products for impaired lives by Ainslie

The ABI website contains reports on the cost of fraud by insurance policyholders and how to deal with the problem.

 

In January 2008, the ABI issued new guidance for dealing with claims on CI, IP and life insurance policies where there has been non-disclosure, in line with the requirement to treat customers fairly. Insurers will classify each case according to whether the non-disclosure was innocent, negligent or deliberate, and there is guidance as to how to deal with the policy fairly in each case.

For example, if the non-disclosure is a genuine mistake (ie innocent), the claim is paid in full. If it is negligent, a proportionate solution will be applied so that the customer is no better or worse off than if he had declared the condition at outset - eg if the information made no difference to the condition being claimed for, it should still be paid in full. The new guidance is available at:

http://www.abi.org.uk/Members/circulars/viewAttachment.asp?EID=18610&DID=15625