FCA Market Study: The problem of loaded premiums

In its Structure of the UK Pure Protection Market for Retail Customers (MS24/1.3, part of the Pure Protection Market Study), the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) touches on the contentious issue of loaded premiums but perhaps not in a way many of us had either expected or hoped. In paragraphs 5.25- 5.26 the FCA notes: where intermediaries negotiate higher commissions from insurers, it often leads to elevated premiums for consumers. It also says that "distributors may legitimately seek to negotiate loaded premiums to cover additional costs incurred (in comparison to competitors) for t...