The economic secretary to the UK Treasury, Ed Balls, has initiated a travel insurance review public call for evidence and emphasized the need for travel insurers to be clear about consumer's cover in the event of a terrorist attack.
The call for evidence follows the launch of the UK government’s review of travel insurance in August, which highlighted the different regulatory approach taken with the selling of travel insurance sold alongside a holiday and standalone travel insurance.
In recent years there have been growing concerns from consumer groups and sections of the industry that the market is not working as well as it could, raising questions about whether regulation and appropriate redress should apply to the selling of travel insurance, stated Mr Balls.
We therefore need to get to the bottom of whether travel insurance sold with a holiday is being mis-sold, and whether we need to be doing more to educate consumers to consider the cover they want and ensure that they are properly informed.
The review is ultimately designed to investigate whether travel insurance sold with a holiday is being mis-sold, and hopes to set out options to improve the selling of travel insurance from travel agents. These options include strengthened self-regulation by the travel insurance industry and the possibility of full regulation by the UK Financial Services Authority.
The call for evidence will close on February 22, 2007.