Introduction
“There is no requirement that an insurance policy is reasonably intelligible in terms of content and there is no requirement that it be especially legible.”
“ Birds’ Modern Insurance Law”
This statement may appear at first sight to contradict the FSA regulatory position but was of course written before the introduction of FSA regulations or of Contract Certainty.
Nevertheless, I believe there remains an element of truth in the warning. Insurance companies are competing for business and they are free to choose their own style of policy and the words phrases and expressions they utilise to define their offering. These can differ immeasurably and I believe insurance intermediaries should now be aware of the differences and how they could impact the very important protection they expect from the PI policy.
This is the second part of our PI Initiative, which attempts to move the industry to clearer definitions/understanding of the wordings and consider the advantage and disadvantage of a minimum standard. This extensive guide will help members interpret PI policy wordings; I hope you find it useful.