Over the last few years the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has continued to ramp up its enforcement of CASS 5 client asset compliance for insurance brokers; driven in no small part by the poor results shown from its inspection visits.However, the main engine for the increase in regulatory enforcement has been the introduction in 2015 of the “Client Asset Assurance Standard” by the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), the revised version of which came into force in January 2020. This standard has effectively required auditors to do their job more effectively and to ensure there is a proper Client Money control regime in place across
the insurance sector.

Regulation is an important driver for improving an insurance firm’s cash operations, but it is by no means the only or even the most important one. While the insurance industry has gone from strength to strength on the back of a growing economy and increased returns on investment in recent years, it still faces many longer-term challenges. Perhaps primary among these is making effective use of insurance technologies (InsurTech) in an increasingly competitive market. Furthermore, the opportunities (and challenges) being afforded to the industry by global open banking initiatives have created an opportunistic time for those running the cash processing and reconciliation teams in the insurance industry.

To meet these challenges and opportunities, rather than patch up existing approaches to CASS 5 and CASS 7, Cashfac offers a new method for the administration of money belonging to clients within the insurance sector, whether it is held in statutory or non-statutory trusts or under the risk transfer provisions.