Speaking to International Adviser, Gill Marples, chair of the Manx Insurance Authority (MIA), said: “Following conversations between the MIA and the [Financial Services Authority], we have agreed a staged implementation of commission disclosure.
“From 1 January 2018, the Key Information Documents will have to confirm that commission will be paid and the range of commission for each product.”
The KID will not, however, have to be policyholder specific until 1 January 2019, although early adoption is encouraged.
The decision to stagger the implementation followed feedback from members that were not already subject to commission disclosure regimes.
These members thought that 2018 was “a hard target to hit, in terms of systems development and advisers having to adjust their business models”, Marples said.
A final draft of the Business Code will be issued for consultation in April 2017.
Exemptions
Following feedback to the consultation, the Isle of Man Financial Services Authority (IoMFSA) has proposed that commission disclosure and KIDs will not be required for top-ups of products that are closed to new business.
Products that are still available for new investment, however, will need a KID.
The Authority also recognised that certain requirements proposed in the Code are very similar to requirements in other jurisdictions.
Therefore, there are exemptions from producing and issuing KIDs in Hong Kong, the UK, and the EU once the Priips regime comes into force.
“Where these local requirements do not require policyholder acknowledgement (all, except Hong Kong), it is proposed that the policyholder acknowledgement requirements remain in force under the Code, with a modification to take into account the documentation that is to be provided,” IoMFSA said in the summary document.
“We do not feel that the particular approach adopted in Hong Kong is as clear and effective as that proposed under the Code, although we have confirmed that an exemption in Hong Kong from the requirement to produce a KID will be available.
“We feel that overlaying the requirements in the Code with those already established in Hong Kong may be counterproductive and introduced complexity for policyholders.”
Roadmap
The Isle of Man regulator also released the latest version of its Roadmap for updating the Isle of Man’s regulatory framework for insurance business on Tuesday.
