Enterprise Bill is good news for the insurance industry: BIBA

The enterprise Bill becoming law spells good news for the insurance industry and for business according to the British Insurance Brokers’ Association (BIBA).

On 4 May, 2016 the Enterprise Bill received its Royal Assent and will be enacted as law in 12 months.

One of the key parts of the new Act will be to create an addendum to the Insurance Act 2015, Which will include the right to sue for damages for the late payment of insurance claims. The law already provides for damages in respect of damages under other commercial contracts and the new law will allow businesses to bring an action for damages if they have suffered financial loss because of a late insurance claim payment.

For insurance brokers the Act also contains measures that will help reduce the regulatory burden on business, said BIBA.

It will ensure that there is even greater transparency around the impact of regulation on business; enable regulators to contribute to the government’s deregulation target of £10 billion of regulatory savings during the current Parliament; and require regulators to produce an annual performance report setting out the effect that their duties have had on the way they have exercised their functions which should include the views of businesses.

The regulatory bodies to be subject to these measures are set to include the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) when the Statutory Instrument to make the change is made public later this year.

Steve White, BIBA Chief executive, said; “In our 2016 Manifesto we called for this move towards a more deregulated environment to include the FCA. In February the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills indicated this would be the case.

“BIBA members pay £28 million into their FCA fee block - a disproportionately high amount compared to the risk they pose - and we are delighted that there will soon be a requirement to report to Government about the effect that regulation ‘red tape’ has on growth.”

Graeme Trudgill; BIBA executive director concluded; “As well as being potentially good news for insurance brokers, this new law benefits their business customers too particularly because of the change to the Insurance Act 2015 to include damages for the late payment of claims which BIBA lobbied for.

“This is a piece of legislation that we support and which we see as a major economic stimulant.”