In your article "What's to become of orphan clients?" (19 February, Insurance Times) you suggest that policyholders left without a broker authorised to trade legally will have to find an alternative source of cover or be "left dangling".
This is not the case. Existing policyholders will not be left without cover.
They can still claim on the policy against the insurer. What the consumer loses is the services of the broker.
Clearly, insurers will need to monitor their brokers' intentions from an early stage so that they can make arrangements for customers to be given an alternative point of contact and to take any service obligations in-house or transfer them prior to the start of regulation on 14 January 2005.
We reminded insurers of their obligations in this respect in our policy statement to CP174, published last September.
Sarah Wilson - FSA director, high street firms division
