Banking Ombudsman holds bank not required to review customer insurance policies and premiums…

A customer complained to the Banking Ombudsman that his bank failed to regularly review his insurance policies arranged through the bank, and their premiums. 

The customer received annual letters from his bank and claimed that he assumed that his policies were being regularly reviewed.

He also claimed that he was entitled to discounts that the bank did not offer him. He said he only learned of the discounts from an insurance broker.

He sought a lump sum payment from the bank acknowledging their lack of management of his policies, as well as a refund amounting to the discounts he claimed he was eligible for.

The bank said that the complainant was not eligible for the discounts he claimed. The bank also said that the annual letters sent to the customer did not indicate that the bank was actively reviewing his policies.

The Banking Ombudsman held that the annual letters did not mislead the consumer into thinking that his policies had been reviewed. The letters said that the customer should contact the bank if he wished to have his policies reviewed.

The Ombudsman found that the customer was not eligible for the discounts he claimed as these were only applicable to new policies after 2019, and the complainant took out the policies with the bank in 2001.

The Ombudsman found that the bank had no obligation to offer the best policy or premiums to existing customers.

It pays to check that your policies still offer the best value and not assume that your bank will offer you the same deal as it is offering to new customers.