The Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) has welcomed recommendations from the Surviving Economic Abuse (SEA) group’s recent report, and agreed to develop guidance for professionals working with victims of economic abuse.
Earlier this month, SEA published a report outlining the impact of life insurance policies on victim-survivors of economic abuse, and highlighting research by Aviva that showed two in five British adults have experienced a form of economic or financial abuse at some point during their lives.
‘Life insurance and economic abuse: The challenges faced by victim-survivors of economic abuse in accessing and ending life insurance protection’ was written by Professor James Davey, of the University of Bristol, and Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Consumer Panel member, Johnny Timpson.
Ahead of International Economic Abuse Awareness Day (Sunday 26th November), the CII commended this report and has agreed to develop guidance based on its recommendations.
The report recommended that member organisations should develop an industry-led code of best practice regarding how firms can support victims-survivors.
The CII committed to work with members to produce good practice guidance for professionals, using the case studies and recommendations for practitioners in the report as a starting point.
Matthew Connell, director of policy and public affairs at the CII, said: “The report raises significant issues for insurers and advisers, and we will work with members to update our materials, to reflect the insights shared in this report.
“The Consumer Duty places a high priority on the treatment of potentially vulnerable groups, and this report will allow us to evolve our support for members on the implementation of Consumer Duty guidelines.”
Sara D’Arcy, head of advocacy and communications at Surviving Economic Abuse, added: “Perpetrators of domestic abuse use every means possible to control a partner or ex-partner, including taking out life insurance policies to threaten victim-survivors and financially benefit from their deaths even after separation.
“In the worst cases, some abusers have used the financial benefits of taking out life insurance as an incentive to kill a victim.
“We are pleased that the Chartered Insurance Institute has committed to tackling this issue by developing best practice guidance to help firms and practitioners support economic abuse victim-survivors.
“We welcome the opportunity to support the CII in producing the guidance and continue to raise awareness of this important issue.”
