Aviva issues statement on the FCA’s Report on insurance for multi-occupancy buildings

Adam Winslow, CEO, Aviva UK & Ireland General Insurance, said:

“Aviva understands the difficulties faced by residents living in buildings with combustible cladding or other fire safety risks. We support the FCA report on insurance for multiple-occupancy buildings, and we broadly agree on the areas where the FCA suggests market remedies should be focused.

“The FCA found that there has been ‘a significant contraction in the supply of insurance’ and that insurers have ‘limited or no appetite for writing new business.’ This view does not reflect the action Aviva has taken to provide fairly-priced insurance for existing and new customers living in buildings with combustible cladding. We have always supported our existing customers faced with these issues, and in April 2021 we made our insurance available to new customers affected by combustible cladding.

“Since opening to new business, Aviva has helped more than 6,400 leaseholders secure fairly priced insurance – 1,200 of whom came to Aviva without any insurance in place, due to their inability to secure cover elsewhere. The remaining 5,200 new customers have seen an average premium saving of 60% since moving their insurance to Aviva. To further minimise cost and provide greater transparency, we have – for the last 18 months – capped broker commissions at 10% for these buildings, except where brokers have agreed an appropriate fee for their services with their customers.

“Offering fairly priced insurance to new customers in cladding-affected buildings isn’t just the right thing to do, Aviva has also shown it is also commercially viable. We are disappointed that other insurers have not yet followed our lead as collectively we could ensure that all leaseholders living in such buildings have access to fairly priced insurance. A more formal pooling arrangement may now be necessary to support these leaseholders; we will, of course, continue to support the ABI’s work in developing this.”