TRAVEL agents could stop selling travel insurance if it becomes too expensive to meet the demands of the General Insurance Standards Council, Preferential Direct managing director Steve Nickerson said.
“The holiday is the agents’ core product and if they have to spend too much time selling a non-core product to comply with regulations imposed by the GISC they could decide it is not justified,” he added.
Nickerson said there could be significant costs associated with membership of the GISC.
As well as the fee, which is proposed to be a minimum of £300, agents will have to commit their time and money to training.
“Some distributors could decide not to sell the product and that would open the door for direct-sell companies that are committed to travel insurance as their core product,” he added. Nickerson warned that ignoring the GISC rules was not an option.
“If we can’t rise to the challenge of self-regulation, it will lead to calls for the statutory controls faced by other financial institutions,” he said.
TABLE: Nickerson: said their could be significant costs associated with GISC membership.