The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) has published a notice on its website to highlight the risks of firms having no contingency plans in place to ensure service continuity should the UK withdraw from the EU without an agreement. EIOPA acknowledges that insurers with the largest cross-border business have taken action but expresses concern about the 124 insurance undertakings that have no or insufficient contingency plans in place to ensure service continuity after Brexit.

 In the notice EIOPA states “To avoid disruptions in service continuity, immediate and reinforced actions from undertakings and supervisory authorities are required. Insufficient contingency planning that may result in consumer detriment is a severe governance failure”.

 Furthermore EIOPA states that policyholders of cross-border insurance contracts with undertakings from either the UK or Gibraltar should be informed about the relevant contingency measures and the impact of their contractual relationship and services.

 View: EIOPA calls for immediate action to ensure service continuity in cross-border insurance business