Reference Case Number: FOI12006
Freedom of Information: Right to know request:
- The number of authorised Insurance Firms in the years 2019 to 2024.
- The number of enforcement outcomes against those firms in the same years.
Please see Annex A for full details of your request.
FCA response:
Question 1
Please see the table below for the number of firms in each of the firm portfolios listed in for the period 2019 to 2024:
| Primary Portfolio Name | 31/12/2019 | 31/12/2020 | 31/12/2021 | 31/12/2022 | 31/12/2023 | 31/12/2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Personal and Commercial Lines Insurance Intermediaries | 10258 | 4918 | 4742 | 4403 | 4163 | 3921 |
| Personal and Commercial Lines Insurers (inc EEA Insurers) | 628 | 281 | 297 | 296 | 284 | 274 |
| Lloyd`s and London Market Intermediaries (inc Managing General Agents) | 351 | 446 | 452 | 419 | 362 | 359 |
| Lloyd`s Managing Agents and London Market (Re) Insurers (inc P & I Clubs) | 221 | 226 | 229 | 228 | 215 | 216 |
| Price Comparison websites | 11 | 17 | 18 | 18 | 15 | 14 |
Please note that the figures provided refer to the number of firms within the specified portfolios, but there may be firms who hold general insurance permissions and conduct such business that would not be captured as they sit within another portfolio. Additionally, the data does not identify Appointed Representative (AR) firms, as only directly regulated firms are allocated to a firm portfolio, and so we would not be able to split the numbers by AR firms.
Question 2
There were only 2 enforcement outcomes against firms in the portfolios listed during the period 2019 to 2024. In 2021 and 2022 there was 1 enforcement outcome each year against a firm in the Lloyd's and London Market Intermediaries (inc Managing General Agents) Portfolio.
You can view further details about these outcomes in the Final Notices issued here and here. Please be aware that an operation may investigate several subjects (i.e., firm(s) and/or individual(s)) at any one time. This means we may achieve several outcomes as part of a single operation. For that reason, we report Enforcement outcomes at subject, rather than operation, level.
Annex A
Annex A
You previous asked for the following information on 20 November 2024
1. The number of authorised firms per year for the last 10 years, general insurance, including appointed representatives, but splitting out.
2. Number of enforcement actions against general insurance firms per year for the last ten years, including appointed representatives but splitting them out.
We have written to you seeking clarification on your request, and you confirmed the following on 9 December 2024:
‘Thank you for your email. It would be very useful if the information shared could include general insurers, brokers and appointed representatives, which comprise the total number in each request.’
We responded to this request on 10 January 2025 advising you that Section 12 FOIA applied as your request exceeds the cost limit but suggested a refinement.
You responded on 23 January 2025 as follows to take us up on the below refinement offered:
‘In this instance, for question 1, we would like to explain that since 2019 we have supervised all firms as members of a portfolio of firms that share a common business model, and you can view a list of the portfolios in use here. This means general insurance firms would most likely sit within one, or several of, the following portfolios:
• Personal and Commercial Lines Insurers
• Personal and Commercial Lines Intermediaries
• Price Comparison Websites
• Lloyd’s and London Market (re)insurers
• Lloyd’s and London market Intermediaries (and Managing General Agents)
We could therefore consider a refined request for question 1 (authorised firms in the past 10 years) based on the number of firms in these portfolios as at 31 December in the years 2019 to 2024. For question 2 (enforcement actions), we believe we are referring to enforcement outcomes. Therefore, as part of the same refinement, we could consider responding with the number of enforcement outcomes against firms in these portfolios for the same time period as question 2.’