04 September 2008

ABTA agents urged to protect future sales of insurance

ABTA has found a way to ensure its members continue to earn commission from insurance after January 1 2009.

From that date, new FSA regulations will come into effect controlling how travel insurance can be sold by travel organisers.

The regulations say travel companies cannot sell insurance unless they are either FSA-regulated themselves, or become an Ã¢â¬ÅâœIntroducer Appointed RepresentativeÃ¢â¬~ or Ã¢â¬ÅâœAppointed RepresentativeÃ¢â¬~ of a FSA-regulated company.

Under a new initiative, all ABTA members will be granted Ã¢â¬ÅâœIntroducer Appointed RepresentativeÃ¢â¬~ (IAR) status for the ABTASure range of travel insurance policies.
After a simple registration process, they will have access to an ABTASure IAR facility provided by Citybond Suretravel.

ABTA head of finance Mike Monk said: Ã¢â¬ÅâœIt is tremendously important that customers do not travel without insurance and our members can and do play a very important role in this.

Ã¢â¬ÅâœI would urge them to obtain IAR status with ABTASure, thereby ensuring their customers are adequately covered and protecting their insurance income.Ã¢â¬~

ABTA members can apply online by completing the agent application form on www.abtasure.co.uk

By Bev Fearis

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Your Comments (1)

Does the public need FSA regulation?

As a member of the public I can go onto an insurance web site and purchase insurance by ticking boxes. I cannot be made to read the information first. I don't need to have undertaken training and I don't need to be FSA approved to self sell insurance. I just need to tick a box to confirm that I have read their terms and conditions and relevant facts but no-body is going to know if I have, and as I am a busy person I just tick the box anyway. Then I go happily on holiday with insurance cover. There must be a lot of people out there who have bought insurance in this way, and many will find that if they need to make a claim they are not covered. Once the new FSA regulations come into force at the beginning of 2009 the number of people who have bought inadequate insurance will increase, but I suspect there will be an even larger increase in the number of people who will be travelling without insurance. We ask every client who books one of our holidays about insurance, and the number of people who genuinely think it is not something that they need to concern themselves about is worrying. Would it be fair to assume that the amount of money the FSA hopes to receive from all those companies registering with them will be spent by the FSA in setting up and providing a service for the those unfortunate people who find themselves with inadequate insurance, or no insurance and stranded overseas, with no-one to assist them?

By Iris Matthews, Thursday, September 4, 2008