TRAVEL agents will have to pay at least £300 a year to join the General Insurance Standards Council if its proposals are agreed by the insurance industry.
The amount agents have to pay will be based on earnings from travel insurance. The proposed rate is 0.1% of commission. Most agents will pay the minimum £300, but multiples could face a bill of up to £50,000 a year. There is a maximum of £100,000.
ABTA head of legal services Riccardo Nardi said, “Independent agents will be upset if they end up paying £300.
“It is not going to put them out of business, but we don’t want them to face new regulations and new fees.”
GISC chief executive Chris Woodburn dismissed ABTA’s suggestion that it acts as an agent for the GISC on behalf of members. “That is not where I am coming from,” he said.
“The objective is to create a single, coherent regulatory system with each agent signed up independently. Bringing in other bodies will create fragmentation.”