Adviser / Broking

New cases for the Financial Ombudsman Service(FOS) soared by 26% in the year to March 31 2011, driven by a record number of complaints about PPI mis-selling.

Aviva has said 85% of its new business value is unaffected by changes brought on by the RDR.

The British Insurance Brokers' Association (Biba) has withdrawn its private medical insurance (PMI) scheme for members to remove a clause that handed all currently held business to its partner Jelf.

The British Insurance Brokers' Association (Biba) and the Institute of Insurance Brokers (IIB) have confirmed they are in formal merger discussions with an aim to complete them by the end of the year.

Friends Life total new business rose 52% in Q1 compared to a year earlier, with sales from parent company Resolution's newly aquired businesses driving performance.

New business at Royal London's protection arms Bright Grey and Scottish Provident fell 14% over Q1 2011 compared to the same quarter last year.

Over half (57%) of IFAs will target protection sales as a source of new revenue post Retail Distribution Review (RDR), Aviva has found.

The ABI has urged the FSA against introducing "radical interventions" in product regulation in a strongly-worded rebuke of its recent discussion paper.

The FSA has proposed linking the definition of a Holloway product to four key criterion, to pave the way for certain plans gaining exemption from RDR adviser charging rules.

F&TRC has initiated a statement of best practice to address the complexity of processes used by providers when collecting online application signatures.