Post magazine – 5 December 2013

In this week's edition after the revelations at Towergate last week, it seems the Financial Conduct Authority may choose to look favourably on the intermediary for revealing the misallocation of £15m, however compliance experts have condemned the broker's auditor KPMG, with some suggesting the professional services firm could be dragged into a potential regulatory intervention.

Towergate revealed last Friday (29 November) it had misallocated £15m of client and insurer funds between restricted and unrestricted accounts from November 2007 to January 2011.

In other news, introducing insurance education to the National Curriculum and engaging in steps to boost the real economy top the market wish list as the government prepares to unveil a plan to drive growth in the insurance industry; market insiders have warned Brightside not to expect an increased valuation after Markerstudy was tipped to table a renewed bid for the broker early next year following the decision of its chief executive Martyn Holman to move to the Gibraltar-domiciled insurer; and calls for insurers to share processed telematics data in a bid to bolster consumer engagement with the evolving technology have been branded anti-competitive by market commentators.

Plus, the team brings you all the news from the latest Post Claims Club meeting.

Ian Parker's search for the right firm took him across the globe before he finally found his ‘sweet spot' with Equity. In this week's interview the chief executive tells Post why the insurer is such a perfect fit.

Axa Commercial and Personal Intermediary chief executive Amanda Blanc is in the C-Suite to explain how the industry can give SMEs a further boost as the economy recovers and they gain new access to capital.

With the end of 2013 fast approaching, this issue contains the first of Post's reviews of the year. Katie Marriner looks back on the year for health insurance; while Caroline Parra-Serrano reports on the loss adjusting year.