Understanding the Impact of Insurance in Abusive Relationships: Key Considerations for Advisers Under Consumer Duty

Last week we had a particular wealth of content for advisers and other industry participants on Protection Guru. Probably the most important was the article by Amanda Newman Smith talking to Johnny Timpson on preventing insurance being weaponised in abusive relationships 

The issues addressed in this article are crucial for every adviser to understand, both to protect their clients and to meet obligations under Consumer Duty. It particularly highlights situations where if cover is not arranged correctly and cannot be modified easily, there is a significant risk of economic abuse.  

Our 9th January Protection Forum will focus on this subject in detail, and we have agreed a range of key speakers who will share their experience and knowledge on the subject. The ticketing link for this session will go online shortly but if you want to track the announcement, please click this link and follow Protection Guru on LinkedIn. 

If you are a network member, I would particularly encourage you to ask your network compliance team to join this session as we will have a great team of people discussing key regulatory issues.  

In the meantime, if you wish to learn more on this subject the second part of the single life, joint life and menu plans what are the best options from a consumer perspective Protection Forum recap  may be really helpful. This includes great insight from Guardian’s Hayley Young, Scottish Widows Julie Thompson and The Exeter’s Jack Southcott.  

Part one of the discussion features among others Zoe Priselac, Colin Baxter and Emma Astley single life, joint life and menu plans what are the best options from a consumer perspective Protection Forum Part 1 

Our last Protection Forum this year takes place tomorrow from noon to 1:30 pm and it’s not too late to register to participate just use the link here. The subject is “How did we do in 2024 and what do you want for 2025” and the ticket link is halfway down the page on the right-hand side. 

Another great contribution to our site last week came from Matt Chapman talking about Top Tips for Mastering the Protection Referral Process . Reading this piece will give you a good understanding of why Matt won the industry Personality of the Year Award at the Protection Review last week. You can find more great content from Matt at the The Protection Coach Instagram account 
 
On Friday the Chair of our medical committee gave some fascinating insight into the future of Transforming Lung Cancer Outcomes. Critical Illness cover will face some huge challenges going forward if it is to be sustainable. It has been my view for some time that we are now at the point where critical illness wordings are both better than they have ever been and probably better than they will ever be in the future. This makes it a great time to review your clients existing critical illness policies and Protection Guru Pro can help you by providing a detailed comparison based on the views of independent medical experts of the cover under any existing plan and the options available for new cover.  

Other articles that caught my attention this week.  
 
I will start with the summary on our sister site Advisersoftware.com of the recent Consumer Duty Alliance technology forum focusing on A beginners guide to Artificial Intelligence in Financial Advice You can find the audio summary of this and the previous Consumer Duty Alliance Tech Forums here, just scroll down the page.   

This piece from FT Adviser on advising the terminally ill is particularly valuable, as well as this one on What to do if your client  shows signs of cognitive decline. 
 

Robert Sinclair has always been one of the most insightful commentators on the future of our industry. His remarks at the Protection Review’s conference as reported by Health & Protection here Landmark ruling threatens to ‘drive coach and horses’ through commission – Sinclair – Health & Protection identify an issue we should all be aware of.  

 
I don’t usually call out LinkedIn conversations, but it’s well worth reading this post by Tony Mudd of St James Place on the findings of the recent multi firm review of insurers bereavement activity and the various comments below  
 
Have a great week everyone and I look forward to talking to as many of you as possible on our Forum tomorrow at Noon.