The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has warned it will act against UK insurers that fail to display year-earlier premiums on renewal notices along with a message encouraging customers to shop around.

The rules were introduced last April, but the regulator says insurers are still falling short of requirements, despite warnings in October.

“It is simply unacceptable to see that some companies are still not being properly transparent with their customers a year on from the introduction of the rules,” Executive Director of Supervision – Retail and Authorisations Jonathan Davidson said.

RAC is the latest insurer to agree to contact affected customers after the FCA found it failed to include the key information on breakdown policy renewals.

“We have already acted where we have seen particularly poor practice… and will continue to do so where we see companies not being transparent,” Mr Davidson said.

Issues identified include: not following the rules for all products and customers, misstating the previous year’s premium, leaving out or not highlighting the “shop around” message and failing to properly identify customers who need renewal information.