With the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) currently undertaking a review of the PPI market, Simon Burgess, managing director at Britishinsurance.com, called for greater specific training within the problem area. He said: “The insurance industry is doing nothing to address the massive mis-selling scandal that is PPI. Even if one were wishing to sell it properly it is impossible to get external training for staff and there is no benchmark to assess competency. This is an urgent issue that needs immediate attention in order to restore the reputation of PPI.”
Shane Craig, managing director at Paymentcare added: “ A training module should be welcomed, but there has to be a clear distinction between the product differences of PPI and mortgage payment protection insurance (MPPI). Intermediaries are doing a great job and the training should focus on the selling issues of the high-street banks.”
Rob Griffiths, associate director at the Association of Mortgage Intermediaries (AMI), supported calls for brokers to have a dedicated learning tool focused around PPI.
He said: “AMI supports any move to provide advisers with up-to-date product information and further training on the suitability of PPI policies for their clients. Members have often reported a lack of product literature and technical briefing materials on PPI and MPPI. AMI has already published a factsheet to help members consider the issues to come out of last year’s FSA thematic work on PPI. It has been designed in a checklist format that will allow members to review their PPI sales procedures, and can be downloaded from the AMI website at www.a-m-i.org.uk. AMI will also be publishing good practice notes on MPPI later this year.”
