FSA ISSUES RECOMMENDATIONS ON LTC INSURANCE

UK regulator the Financial Services Authority (FSA) has published a consultation paper on long-term-care (LTC) insurance recommending that all locally registered independent financial advisers be required to gain a new qualification before selling LTC plans. Under the proposal, advisers will also have to provide a greater level of information to clients both before and after selling them a policy, including “filling in a key-features document explaining the product as well as a post-sale suitability review”. The FSA said that the paper — “Regulation of Long-Term-Care Insurance” — sets out to “extend safeguards to consumers who buy these products to protect themselves at a time when they are likely to be at their most vulnerable”.