Reference Case Number: FOI10752
Freedom of Information: Right to know request:
We are trying to map the UK Insurance market to understand the geographical landscape. We do not need firm names, or contact details.
Ideally, we are looking for data divided by region (South East, London, etc) or by County (Buckinghamshire etc). We would like a count in each region of each category of insurance activity. For example:
Buckinghamshire
30 broker/agents
20 MGAs
10 Insurers
5 reinsurers
You may well categorise using different data names, which is fine. So, to whatever extent you hold the data, will be helpful. We are only interested in entities that are authorised to transacted insurance contracts.
Clarified on 21/11/23 as follows:
On the first point of clarification, we'd be happy for the location to be based on "each firm's registered principal place of business".
Regarding the activities, the link attached redirects to https://www.fca.org.uk/firms/authorisation. However, we would be happy to base the data on the Activities categories you hold and for which you have provided permissions -'Insurance business' and 'Insurance distribution' will assist us in deriving the type of insurance operation, and we take on board your comment below that it may not be quite clear cut.
FCA response:
We can confirm that we hold the requested information, which is set out in the attached Annex B.
Annex B provides a list of firms which currently have any of the following permissions within the Insurance business and Insurance distribution categories:
Insurance business
- Effecting contracts of insurance
- Carrying out contracts of insurance
Insurance distribution
- Advising on investments (for non-investment insurance contracts only)
- Arranging (bringing about) deals in investments (for non-investment insurance contracts only)
- Making arrangements with a view to transactions in investments (for non-investment insurance contracts only)
- Dealing in investments as agent (for non-investment insurance contracts only)
- Assisting in the administration and performance of a contract of insurance
Annex B does not include firms with the following permissions as we have considered your request as relating to General Insurance activity and not to business at Lloyd’s):
- Advising on syndicate participation at Lloyd's
- Managing the underwriting capacity of a Lloyd's syndicate as a managing agent at Lloyd's
- Arranging deals in contracts of insurance written at Lloyd's
Firms with active permissions listed under the heading ‘Insurance business’ on the aforementioned list are likely to be insurers or reinsurers, while those with active permissions under the heading ‘Insurance distribution’ are likely to be intermediaries. However, we are unable to confirm whether a firm is an insurer / reinsurer or an intermediary beyond specifying which category of permission they currently have.
Please note that firms across various sectors, whose primary business is unlikely to be insurance mediation (e.g. financial advisers, mortgage brokers), will also have some of the permissions listed under the heading ‘Insurance distribution’. As such, Annex B will include firms whose primary business is unlikely to be insurance mediation.
Annex B also lists the available information specifying each firm’s Principal Place of Business (PPoB). Please note the FCA is dependent on firms providing accurate details about their PPoB. Upon closer inspection of the data, it is apparent we do not hold information specifying the county in which all PPoBs are located. We have provided the details of each firm’s PPoB as it is held and displayed on the Financial Services Register, so where no county is specified, the other information can be used to locate the firm’s PPoB.
We have not included any firms listed on the Financial Services Register where the PPoB is outside the UK (45 firms) or where no details as to the firms’ PPoB are available (3 firms).