The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has urged insurers to move ahead with business interruption claim settlements as the Supreme Court distils its recent judgment into a set of declarations.

“We expect that the Supreme Court will issue the declarations without a further hearing, but we do not know when,” the FCA said last week.

“We believe that the judgment from the Supreme Court gives insurers the clarity they need to conclude their claims processes with the large majority of their BI customers, without waiting for the declarations.”

The Supreme Court on January 15 handed down a judgment on appeals from both sides that found largely in favour of policyholders.

Since then, the FCA, insurers and the Hiscox Action Group have made submissions over the declarations as they continue to tussle over the details of policy wordings.

The FCA test case launched last year involved a representative sample of 21 policy types issued by eight insurers. It has estimated the legal outcome could affect 370,000 policyholders and 700 types of policies issued by 60 insurers.