What is there to complain about this week?

Politics

Shadow business secretary John Denham labelled referral fees and payment protection insurance as “scams” in his speech to the Labour party conference. It’s probably time for the industry to get its house in order.

Expense

Solvency II compliance will cost large UK insurers more than £200m apiece, according to a new report by Clear Path Analysis. And the directive won’t even come into force until 2014, the Council of Ministers confirmed this week.

Regulations

Most claims management companies handling payment protection insurance (PPI) mis-selling queries do not follow Ministry of Justice regulation, a Which? investigation has revealed. It found problems including misleading advice, unfair contract terms and a lack of transparency about fees.

Loss

UK insurers recorded an underwriting loss £1.2bn last year, according to new ABI figures. Motor was unsurprisingly the most “challenging” product, showing an underwriting shortfall of £1.8bn for 2010.

Price drop

More good news on that score – the price of car insurance fell 2.3% month on month in September. Further indicating that the market has turned, the same survey showed prices down 4.5% across the quarter ending this month.

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