No-one wants a messy breakup – and as for the UK parting ways with the European Union, the insurance trade body wants Brexit to be orderly to spare policyholders the trouble.

“To meet our clients’ needs as an industry and ensure full compliance with the law, the government has to deliver an orderly withdrawal, a stable transition, and a sensible and mutually beneficial future trading relationship,” Huw Evans, director general of the Association of British Insurers, was quoted as saying in a Reuters report.

The report said insurance firms based in Britain have been among those aggressively warning against an exit that could be disruptive.

Meanwhile, ABI is in favour of ‘formal cooperation’ between political parties as well as between the houses of parliament so that an arrangement is reached during Brexit negotiations.    

Areas of concern include the European health insurance card, as well as how pre-Brexit contracts still effective after the departure will be treated.  

Global reinsurers, for their part, have written to the European Commission to ask for passporting rights to be kept so they can sell services across the EU even without local operations.

“If passporting arrangements for EU reinsurers into the UK and vice versa are not maintained, then national regulations will inevitably make cross-border reinsurance between the two jurisdictions more difficult and expensive,” said the 13-member Global Reinsurance Forum.


Related stories:
Get ready for a three-year Brexit recession, says insurer
The Brexit good news for insurance