By Rachel Williams The GISC has now announced the timetable for the implementation of rule F4...
By Rachel Williams
The GISC has now announced the timetable for the implementation of rule F42 which states that GISC members can only deal with other GISC members.
According to the timetable, as of September 1, GISC members and their appointed agents will only be permitted to transact business with intermediaries that have become members or intermediaries that have submitted an application. By December 2001 members will only be able to accept business from intermediaries that have had their applications accepted.
In response the ABI has now stated that it will run down its Code of Conduct for general insurance to coincide with the implementation of rule F42 under the GISC and to ensure that there is no duplication of regulation.
Vic Rance, media manager at the ABI said that there was no longer a role for the ABI regulatory body. "Now that the GISC is working on a basis of operating from September 1, it was sensible for the Code of Conduct, not to run on. We did not want there to be a duplication of regulation."
But not all bodies are happy. Bill Poynton, chairman of the Association of Medical Insurance Intermediaries (AMII) said that leaving the implementation of Rule F42 will leave consumers unprotected until it is put in place later in the year.
He said, that while the ABI Code of Conduct will remain in place, it will not be fully functional. "We urged the GISC to make membership compulsory for PMI by April 1. The ABI Code of Conduct is administered by Price Waterhouse Coopers, but their contract runs out in April. This means that there will be no monitoring of compliance between April and September."
He added: "PMI is more emotive than travel and motor insurance, it has a profile and when it goes wrong it has a serious impact on people's lives."
This period could also be confusing, not just for members but also for consumers, as there are differences between the ABI's and the GISC's rules. Julian Stainton, chief executive at WPA said: "There are a number of apparent differences between the ABI code and the GISC rules, particularly for complaint procedures. In the intervening period how are we supposed to comply?"
As of January 1st AMII has made it compulsory for its members to be signed up to the GISC and it is now encouraging PMI insurers to take similar action. "We have written to insurers and asked them to demand all intermediaries they deal with are registered by the start of April."
So far WPA is the only insurer to take this step, with the remainder sticking to the GISC timetable. Commenting on its decision Stainton said: "While this rule is not yet mandatory we should be getting on with it. GISC is in the consumer's interest, so why wait when we can do it now?"
