Isle of Man Finance

Protection issues

For life assurance companies, the Isle of Man's Life Assurance (Compensation of Policyholders) Regulations 1991 ensure that, in the event of a life assurance company being unable to meet its liabilities to its policyholders, up to 90% of the liability to the protected policyholder will be met.

Unlike many other policyholder protection schemes, the Island's scheme operates globally, providing protection to policyholders no matter where they reside.

The scheme would be funded by a levy on the funds of the other life assurance companies.

The Financial Services Ombudsman

The role of the Insurance and Pensions Authority does not extend to acting as arbitrator for individual policyholder complaints. However, it should be noted that the Isle of Man has also recently introduced a Financial Services Ombudsman scheme which has a broader remit. This service is free and designed to handle consumer disputes in the areas of Insurance, Banking, Investment and Pensions from consumers of Isle of Man regulated businesses from around the world.

To pursue a complaint, the complainant must first have formally taken the matter up with the institution concerned, and must contact the Ombudsman within 6 years of the act or omission taking place, or within 2 years of the date at which the act or omission came to the notice of the complainant.

Complaints where the act or omission occurred prior to April 20th 1999 do not fall under the scheme.

The scheme's adjudicator has the power to impose directions to remedy the position, and can make monetary awards of up to £100,000.