Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority has called on insurers and brokers to ensure their products and services deliver fair value, after a review found continued failings.

The authority’s thematic review of product governance examined 28 insurers and 39 brokers, and found improvements have been made since the introduction of new product governance (PROD) rules in 2021.

But the report notes some insurance groups are still “not adequately assessing and evidencing that their products deliver fair value and good outcomes”, with many failing to identify problem areas.

The authority also warns of poor understanding among insurance distributors about their responsibilities “to consider their remuneration, its interaction with the services and benefits they provide, and its impact on the product’s value”.

“We are very disappointed to see many firms, both manufacturers and distributors, failing to meet their regulatory obligations under PROD fully, despite our extensive previous work and the clear expectations we have set,” the report says.

The authority says it will take “the most appropriate supervisory and regulatory actions we can ... to urgently address these issues”.

FCA insurance director Matt Brewis said: “Progress is being made, but we are still seeing too many examples of insurers and brokers lacking the right information, governance or oversight to ensure their customers get consistently good outcomes.

“All insurance firms should take note of our findings and make improvements where appropriate. We’ll continue to take action where we see poor value, so consumers can have confidence when buying insurance products.”

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