I am delighted to advise you that Intasure received its Grant of Permission from the Financial Services Authority (FSA) on 06/11/04. This means that we will be authorised and regulated by the FSA for our activities from 14/01/05 – the date when the regulation of General Insurance Intermediaries becomes effective in the UK . After that date, no firm may conduct General Insurance Mediation activities without authorisation, unless it can take advantage of one of the exemptions or exclusions available.

As a firm authorised by the FSA, we have a duty to investigate the regulatory status of all introducers from whom we accept insurance business.

The vast majority of our Spanish Introducers do not require authorisation. As regards our UK Introducers, in most cases, they fall outside the scope of regulation. This is because they are able to take advantage of an exclusion known as “the provision of information on an incidental basis”

For this to be the case, the Introducer must:

• conduct activities that consist of the provision of information to the policyholder or potential policyholder
• carry on a profession or business which does not otherwise consist of regulated activities
• conduct activities which are limited to the provision of information which is incidental to that profession or business

To avoid the need for your firm to require FSA authorisation, it is very important that the above conditions are adhered to. Specifically, it is vital that:

• no specific advice is given to potential policyholders about the Intasure products
• premiums should not be collected from policyholders in respect of Intasure products
• claims should not be dealt with by introducers in respect of Intasure procedures

It will be necessary for Intasure to be assured that you adhere to the above, and you must let us know if you cannot.

We very much look forward to working with you in the future, and would ask you to contact us if you have any queries on the above.

Simon Medwin
Technical Consultant
Insurance Compliance Services Limited