LONDON (Reuters) – Insurers have paid nearly 500 million pounds ($692.90 million) so far to businesses who won the right to claim for pandemic disruption following a ruling by Britain’s highest court, Britain’s markets watchdog said on Monday.
Bars, beauty parlours and nightclubs were among companies in January to become eligible for business interruption insurance payments after senior judges ruled many policies should cover losses caused by lockdowns in a test case brought by the Financial Conduct Authority.
Insurers have made final business interruption settlements totalling 279 million pounds and interim payments totalling 192 million pounds so far, the FCA said on its website.
Of 21,140 policyholders who have had claims accepted so far, 10,207 have received at least an interim payment, it added.
The FCA said it only asked insurers to detail claims if there were more than five claims on one type of policy.
The FCA said it noted that “some insurers may have reached different conclusions on whether similar policies are, in principle, capable of responding to the COVID-19 pandemic”, and would work with them to ensure consistency. It said it would collect and publish data on payments made each month.
Industry sources say the total bill for insurers is likely to reach billions of pounds.
The FCA earlier this month published a list of policies which insurers anticipated will pay out as a result of the judgment. The policies would affect more than 200,000 policyholders, the FCA said.
($1 = 0.7217 pounds)
(Reporting by Carolyn Cohn; editing by Karin Strohecker and Jonathan Oatis)
