FOS publishes first decisions naming insurers

The FOS has today published 110 of its insurance (non PPI) decisions on its website.

The ability of FOS to publish its Ombudsmen's final decisions came into force on 1 April 2013 as part of the Financial Services Act 2012.  The stated aim was to make FOS more accessible and transparent.  The identity of the consumer in the decision has been removed but with the identity of the financial business retained.  Published decisions in other categories have been gradually added to the searchable database since April 2013. The publication of the 110 decisions comes as insurers are under increasing pressure and scrutiny from the FCA (and as a consequence FOS).  As previously reported by this blog, the first and second of the FCA's thematic review reports relate to the supervision of general insurance, confirming the FCA's current particular interest in conduct regulation of consumer insurance.  The regulators' message was reinforced by the recent FCA Final Notice and fine issued to the insurance intermediary, Policy Administration Services Ltd for failings in complaints handling and root cause analysis.

We don't plan to review all 110 - and doubt anyone can be expected to - but there will revealing material hidden away in there. We will be monitoring published decisions in general with interest.