TRW & Co · Funds & Financial Services
Insurance and Reinsurance Lawyers in London
Insurance lawyers London insurers, Lloyd's businesses, brokers and policyholders instruct advise on PRA and FCA regulation, policy wordings, reinsurance, coverage disputes and portfolio transfers. With Solvency UK in force, the Consumer Duty reshaping claims and the FCA simplifying commercial insurance rules, getting wordings and oversight right now prevents disputes later.
Key pointUnder the Insurance Act 2015 an insurer can only avoid a business policy for a deliberate or reckless failure of fair presentation, or where it would not have written the risk at all; otherwise remedies are proportionate, so disputes turn on what the insurer would have done had it known.
At a glance
Dual regulation
Insurers and Lloyd's managing agents are regulated by the PRA for prudential matters and by the FCA for conduct; intermediaries are regulated by the FCA alone.
Solvency UK
The PRA restated the prudential regime for insurers in its own rules on 31 December 2024, replacing retained Solvency II law with reformed UK requirements.
Fair presentation
Section 3 of the Insurance Act 2015 requires business policyholders to make a fair presentation of the risk, with proportionate remedies for most breaches.
Late payment damages
Part 5 of the Enterprise Act 2016 implies a term that insurers pay valid claims within a reasonable time, with damages available for breach.
Portfolio transfers
Part VII FSMA lets insurers transfer business with High Court sanction, an independent expert report and regulator engagement, without individual consent.
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What insurance and reinsurance law covers in England and Wales
Insurance lawyers London clients instruct work across three overlapping areas: the regulation of insurers, Lloyd's businesses and intermediaries; the contracts of insurance and reinsurance themselves; and the disputes that arise when claims are made. Clients include insurers and reinsurers, managing agents, brokers and managing general agents, policyholders with large commercial risks, and investors in the sector.
London is the world's leading centre for specialty and wholesale insurance. Marine, aviation, energy, political risk, cyber, financial lines and reinsurance are placed here for risks located all over the world, often under English law and with London arbitration or the English courts chosen to resolve disputes. That international footprint is why a policy written for a factory in Chattogram or a vessel in the Gulf may end up being interpreted in the Commercial Court.
The legal question arises at every stage of the insurance cycle: when a business seeks authorisation or enters a new line, when a policy is placed and the risk presented, when a claim is notified and assessed, and when a portfolio is transferred, run off or sold. Insurance lawyers London firms rely on need to understand each stage and how the regulatory and contractual rules interact.
The regulatory framework
Effecting and carrying out contracts of insurance are regulated activities under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA). So are insurance distribution activities, such as arranging, advising on and assisting in the administration and performance of policies.
Dual regulation of insurers
Insurers and Lloyd's managing agents are dual-regulated. The Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), part of the Bank of England, is responsible for safety and soundness and policyholder protection. The FCA regulates conduct, including product governance, distribution, claims handling and the Consumer Duty. Brokers, MGAs and other intermediaries are regulated by the FCA alone.
Solvency UK
The UK's prudential regime for insurers was restated in PRA rules on 31 December 2024, replacing the Solvency II rules retained from EU law. The reforms, known as Solvency UK, changed the risk margin, broadened the assets eligible for the matching adjustment used by annuity writers, and simplified reporting. The PRA has since introduced a matching adjustment investment accelerator to let insurers invest in new assets more quickly. Capital, governance and reporting requirements remain demanding, and new entrants should plan for them early.
Lloyd's
Lloyd's operates under its own statutes, including the Lloyd's Act 1982, with the Council of Lloyd's setting market rules alongside PRA and FCA supervision. Syndicates are managed by managing agents and supported by corporate and other members. Entering the market, starting a syndicate or launching a syndicate-in-a-box involves approvals from Lloyd's as well as the regulators. See the Lloyd's website for market requirements.
Conduct rules and the Consumer Duty
The FCA's Insurance: Conduct of Business sourcebook (ICOBS) sets rules on distribution, information, claims handling and cancellation. Product governance rules in PROD 4 require manufacturers and distributors to assess fair value across the distribution chain. Since 2022, general insurance pricing rules have prevented firms charging renewing home and motor customers more than equivalent new customers. The Consumer Duty now overlays all of this for retail business.
In PS25/21 the FCA simplified parts of its insurance rules, including how conduct rules apply to larger commercial customers, using the boundary of Financial Ombudsman eligibility to distinguish smaller and larger businesses. Firms writing commercial lines should check which customers now fall within each category.
HM Treasury has also consulted on a dedicated resolution regime for failing insurers, which would give the authorities stabilisation powers similar to those available for banks. Insurance lawyers London insurers consult on recovery and resolution planning should track its progress alongside the PRA's existing expectations. Our financial services regulation team advises on the wider regulatory picture.
Insurance contract law: what the statutes say
English insurance contract law has been modernised substantially in the last fifteen years. The rules differ depending on whether the policyholder is a consumer or a business.
| Statute | Applies to | Main effect |
|---|---|---|
| Consumer Insurance (Disclosure and Representations) Act 2012 | Consumer policies | Replaces the duty to volunteer information with a duty to take reasonable care not to make a misrepresentation; remedies depend on whether the misrepresentation was deliberate, reckless or careless |
| Insurance Act 2015 | Business (non-consumer) policies, with some provisions for all | Duty of fair presentation; proportionate remedies for breach; abolition of basis of the contract clauses; reform of warranties |
| Enterprise Act 2016, Part 5 | Policies entered into after commencement in 2017 | Implied term that insurers pay sums due within a reasonable time, with damages for breach |
| Third Parties (Rights against Insurers) Act 2010 | Liability policies of insolvent insureds | Lets a third-party claimant proceed directly against the insurer |
| Marine Insurance Act 1906 | Marine and, by analogy, other non-consumer insurance | Codified much of the common law; amended by the 2015 Act |
Fair presentation and proportionate remedies
Under section 3 of the Insurance Act 2015, a business policyholder must make a fair presentation of the risk before the contract is entered into. That means disclosing every material circumstance it knows or ought to know, or enough information to put a prudent insurer on notice to ask questions, in a reasonably clear and accessible way. What the insured knows includes the knowledge of senior management and those responsible for its insurance, so knowledge gathering inside an organisation matters.
If the duty is breached, the insurer's remedy depends on what it would have done had it known. Avoidance is reserved for deliberate or reckless breaches, or cases where the insurer would not have written the risk at all. Otherwise, the policy may be rewritten on the terms the insurer would have imposed, or claims reduced proportionately to reflect a higher premium.
Warranties and late payment
Under the 2015 Act, breach of warranty suspends cover rather than discharging the insurer from liability, and cover resumes once the breach is remedied. Terms designed to reduce the risk of a particular kind of loss cannot be relied on to defeat a claim if the insured shows the breach could not have increased the risk of the loss that actually occurred. Insurers can contract out of some of these default rules in business policies, but only if they meet transparency requirements.
Most coverage disputes are decided long before a claim is made: in what the insured knew, how it presented the risk and how clearly the wording was drafted.
Claims, coverage disputes and reinsurance
Coverage disputes in London are typically heard in the Commercial Court, part of the Business and Property Courts, or in arbitration. The FCA v Arch Insurance [2021] UKSC 1 business interruption test case shows how a single wording question can affect thousands of policyholders and how the courts approach causation and aggregation in commercial policies.
Reinsurance disputes raise their own issues: follow the settlements clauses, aggregation of losses across events, back-to-back cover with the underlying policy, and allocation across multiple layers and years. Many reinsurance contracts provide for arbitration. The Arbitration Act 2025, in force since 1 August 2025, changed the default law governing arbitration agreements and codified arbitrators' disclosure duties; our Arbitration Act 2025 guide explains the changes, and our international arbitration team acts in insurance and reinsurance references.
For consumers and smaller businesses, the Financial Ombudsman Service provides an alternative forum. Its award limit for complaints about acts or omissions on or after 1 April 2019 is £455,000 under limits applying from 1 April 2026. The FCA has also focused on claims handling, particularly in home and travel insurance, as a key Consumer Duty outcome.
When a significant claim is notified, the first few weeks often decide the outcome. Policyholders should notify in strict compliance with the policy conditions, preserve documents, and avoid admissions or settlements without insurer consent. Insurers should issue reservations of rights promptly and explain what information they need. Insurance lawyers London clients bring in at notification, rather than after a declinature, can usually narrow the issues and shorten the dispute.
Transactions, portfolio transfers and run-off
Insurance M&A, portfolio transfers and legacy deals require regulatory approvals as well as corporate documents. Acquirers of insurers and intermediaries need change in control approval from the regulators before completion, and the assessment examines the acquirer's reputation, financial soundness and plans for the business.
Insurance business can be transferred between insurers under Part VII FSMA, which requires the sanction of the High Court, a report from an independent expert, and engagement with the PRA and FCA. A Part VII transfer moves policies without individual policyholder consent, which is why it is used for restructurings, legacy consolidation and post-Brexit reorganisations. Alternatives include reinsurance-to-close at Lloyd's, loss portfolio transfers and schemes of arrangement.
Buyers and sellers often ask insurance lawyers London deal teams work with to review reserving, reinsurance recoverables and legacy exposures in due diligence. Insurance also features in non-insurance transactions. Warranty and indemnity insurance is now common in UK M&A; see our guide to W&I insurance. Our mergers and acquisitions team works with our insurance lawyers on both types of deal.
How an insurance mandate typically runs
The steps below describe a typical engagement for a firm entering the UK market or launching a new insurance product. Disputes and transactions follow their own paths, described above.
- Market entry strategy. Decide between a UK insurer, a third-country branch, Lloyd's participation, an MGA model or fronting arrangements, considering capital and timing.
- Regulatory permissions. Prepare applications to the PRA and FCA, or to the FCA alone for intermediaries, including business plans, capital and governance.
- Senior managers and governance. Allocate senior manager functions and responsibilities, and build risk, compliance, actuarial and internal audit functions.
- Product design and wording. Draft policy wordings, applying the Insurance Act 2015 or consumer rules, and complete product governance and fair value assessments.
- Distribution agreements. Negotiate binding authorities, TOBAs, delegated claims authority and outsourcing agreements with clear allocation of Consumer Duty responsibilities.
- Reinsurance programme. Place reinsurance with wordings that align to the underlying policies and avoid basis risk on aggregation and claims control.
- Claims and complaints. Set up claims handling standards, complaint processes and Ombudsman engagement, and monitor outcomes.
Risks and common mistakes
Poor knowledge gathering before placement
The duty of fair presentation looks at what senior management and those responsible for insurance know or ought to know after a reasonable search. Businesses often complete renewal submissions using last year's information without asking operational teams about incidents, near misses or changes in activity. If a material circumstance is missed, the insurer may reduce a claim proportionately or, in serious cases, avoid the policy. Policyholders should run a structured information-gathering process before each renewal, document it, and involve their broker in reviewing the presentation.
Mismatch between reinsurance and underlying cover
Insurers sometimes find that their reinsurance does not respond in the way they expected because of differences in wording, aggregation language, governing law or claims control provisions. A follow the settlements clause does not always protect a cedant whose settlement went outside the terms of the original policy. Wordings should be reviewed together before inception, particularly for catastrophe exposures and long-tail lines, and the reinsurance should reflect how claims will actually be handled.
Weak oversight of delegated authority
MGAs and coverholders write a large share of London business. Insurers and managing agents remain responsible for products written on their paper, including under the Consumer Duty and product governance rules. Oversight failures, such as poor audit of binders, unclear claims authority and limited management information, are a common source of regulatory findings and disputes. Binding authority agreements should include clear underwriting guidelines, audit rights, data requirements and termination triggers, and the oversight should be resourced in practice.
Slow or inconsistent claims handling
Unreasonable delay in paying valid claims under business policies can expose insurers to damages under the late payment provisions inserted into the Insurance Act 2015. For consumers, the FCA treats claims handling as a central Consumer Duty outcome and has criticised complex exclusions and slow decisions. Insurers should set clear timescales, communicate reasons for delay, and escalate complex claims early. Policyholders facing delay should keep a record of communications and losses caused by the delay.
Overlooking regulatory approval in transactions
Change in control approval is required before acquiring control of an insurer or regulated intermediary, and completing without it is a criminal offence. Thresholds include indirect holdings, so private equity funds and holding companies further up the structure can be caught. Timetables should allow for the regulators' assessment period, and transaction documents should make approval a condition. The same applies to Part VII transfers, where the court timetable and expert report drive the deal timeline.
Cross-border insurance and the Bangladesh angle
London insures risks worldwide, but local insurance laws often restrict who can write risks in a country. Many jurisdictions require local risks to be insured with locally licensed insurers, with London capacity accessed through reinsurance or fronting arrangements. Policy wordings, governing law and claims cooperation clauses must work within that structure.
In Bangladesh, insurers are regulated by the Insurance Development and Regulatory Authority under the Insurance Act 2010, and local placement and reinsurance rules affect how London capacity can participate, including the role of the state-owned reinsurer. Garment, energy and infrastructure risks in Bangladesh are often reinsured into London. TRW & Co's Dhaka office advises on the local side, while our insurance lawyers London team handles the English law wordings and any London disputes.
Since Brexit, UK insurers no longer passport into the EU, and many London groups now operate EU subsidiaries alongside UK entities. Gulf financial centres such as the DIFC and ADGM, and Singapore, have their own insurance regulators and are common hubs for regional business placed partly in London.
How TRW & Co's insurance lawyers London clients instruct can help
We advise insurers, reinsurers, Lloyd's businesses, intermediaries, investors and policyholders. Our approach combines regulatory, transactional and disputes advice so that the same team understands the wording, the market and the regulator.
Regulatory and authorisation
PRA and FCA applications, variations of permission, Lloyd's approvals, senior manager arrangements and Consumer Duty and fair value frameworks for insurers and intermediaries.
Wordings and distribution
Policy wordings drafted for the Insurance Act 2015 and consumer rules, binding authority and TOBA agreements, and delegated claims arrangements.
Coverage and claims disputes
Coverage advice for insurers and policyholders, fair presentation and late payment disputes, and litigation in the Commercial Court. Where advocacy in the higher courts is required, we instruct specialist counsel.
Reinsurance and arbitration
Reinsurance wordings, aggregation and follow the settlements disputes, and London-seated arbitration under the Arbitration Act 2025.
Transactions and transfers
Acquisitions and disposals of insurers and intermediaries, change in control approvals, Part VII transfers, run-off and legacy transactions.
Cross-border programmes
Fronting, captive and international programme structures, coordinated with our Dhaka office and local counsel in the Gulf, Singapore and the EU.
Explore our practices for related areas, or contact us to discuss a policy, a claim, an application or a transaction.
Checklist for decision-makers
Insurers, intermediaries and corporate policyholders can use the questions below to test their position. They mirror what insurance lawyers London regulators and counterparties respect would ask in a review.
- Do we hold the right PRA, FCA and Lloyd's permissions for every line and distribution channel we use?
- Can we evidence fair value and good customer outcomes across the distribution chain, including claims?
- Have we checked which commercial customers fall within the FCA's revised categories after PS25/21?
- Are policy wordings drafted for the Insurance Act 2015, with any contracting out meeting the transparency rules?
- Do our reinsurance wordings align with the underlying policies on aggregation, claims control and governing law?
- For policyholders: do we have a documented process for gathering knowledge before renewal?
- Are change in control and Part VII requirements built into any transaction timetable?
- Do our dispute resolution clauses reflect the Arbitration Act 2025 and the jurisdictions where we may need to enforce?
Insurance problems are cheapest to solve at placement and design. A short review of wordings, permissions and oversight now is far less costly than a coverage dispute or a regulatory investigation later.
Frequently asked questions
01What is the duty of fair presentation?
Under the Insurance Act 2015, a business policyholder must disclose every material circumstance it knows or ought to know before the contract is made, or enough to put a prudent insurer on notice to ask further questions. The presentation must be reasonably clear and accessible, and material statements must be substantially correct. Knowledge of senior management and those responsible for the insurance counts, as does information a reasonable search would reveal. Consumers have a different, lighter duty under the 2012 Act.
02Can an insurer refuse to pay because of a breach of warranty?
Not as easily as before 2016. Under the Insurance Act 2015, breach of warranty suspends cover rather than ending it, and cover resumes once the breach is remedied. If a term aims to reduce the risk of a particular kind of loss, the insurer cannot rely on its breach where the insured shows the breach could not have increased the risk of the loss that actually occurred. Basis of the contract clauses, which turned every statement into a warranty, are abolished.
03What can I do if my insurer is delaying payment of a claim?
For business policies entered into after the late payment provisions took effect in 2017, insurers must pay sums due within a reasonable time, including a reasonable time to investigate. If they do not, the policyholder may recover damages for losses caused by the delay, in addition to the claim itself. Consumers can complain to the insurer and then to the Financial Ombudsman Service. Keep records of communications and of losses flowing from the delay, and take advice before limitation periods run.
04Who regulates insurance companies in the UK?
Insurers are dual-regulated. The Prudential Regulation Authority, part of the Bank of England, supervises capital, solvency and governance under the Solvency UK rules. The Financial Conduct Authority supervises conduct, including product design, distribution, pricing, claims handling and the Consumer Duty. Insurance brokers, MGAs and other intermediaries are regulated by the FCA only. Lloyd's has its own market oversight in addition to PRA and FCA supervision of managing agents.
05What is a Part VII transfer?
A Part VII transfer is a court-approved process under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 for moving insurance business from one insurer to another. It requires a scheme document, a report by an independent expert on the effect on policyholders, engagement with the PRA and FCA, notice to policyholders and the sanction of the High Court. Once sanctioned, policies transfer without individual policyholder consent. It is used for restructurings, legacy consolidation and group reorganisations.
06Are reinsurance disputes usually litigated or arbitrated?
Many reinsurance contracts provide for arbitration, often seated in London, because the parties value confidentiality and industry expertise. Others go to the Commercial Court. The Arbitration Act 2025, in force since 1 August 2025, made the law of the seat the default law of the arbitration agreement and codified arbitrators' disclosure duties, which matters for contracts with a foreign governing law. Clause drafting at placement determines the forum, so it is worth checking older wordings.
07Can a Bangladeshi business insure through the London market?
Usually through a structure. Bangladeshi law generally requires local risks to be insured with locally licensed insurers regulated by the Insurance Development and Regulatory Authority, with London capacity participating as reinsurance. Policy terms, reinsurance wordings and claims cooperation clauses must work together so that a valid claim is paid at both levels. We coordinate the English law and London market aspects with our Dhaka office, which advises on Bangladeshi requirements.
Sources and official materials
- Insurance Act 2015 — Fair presentation, warranties and remedies
- Consumer Insurance (Disclosure and Representations) Act 2012 — Consumer pre-contract duties
- Enterprise Act 2016, Part 5 — Late payment of insurance claims
- Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, Part VII — Transfers of insurance business
- PRA: Review of Solvency II restatement (PS15/24) — Solvency UK rules effective 31 December 2024
- FCA PS25/21: Simplifying the insurance rules — Revised conduct rules for commercial insurance
- FCA v Arch Insurance (UK) Ltd [2021] UKSC 1 — Business interruption test case
General information only, current as at 21 October 2026. It is not legal advice and does not create a solicitor–client relationship. It reflects the law of England and Wales unless stated otherwise; Scotland and Northern Ireland have separate legal systems, and the law changes frequently. Check current official sources and take advice on the facts of your matter.