Insurance briefing is a round-up of legal and business developments published on Out-Law.com.

Welcome to the Insurance Briefing of March 2018 - our fortnightly round-up of insurance legal and business developments with analysis and commentary from the insurance team at Pinsent Masons.

The main topics we're focusing on this week are:

Pension scheme transaction costs disclosure requirements confirmed

New rules requiring disclosure of pension scheme investment costs will come into force in April, the government has confirmed. Defined contribution (DC) pension scheme trustees will be required to publish charge and transaction cost information for all investment options in the chair's statement and on a publicly-available website, the address of which must be provided to scheme members in their benefit statements. Disclosure must also include an illustration of the compounding effect of the costs and charges.

The Senior Manager and Certification Regime (SMCR) for insurers

The Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SMCR), which is designed to make individuals at financial firms more accountable, will apply to insurers from 10 December 2018. The SMCR's conduct rules will apply to all regulated firms from 10 December 2018, and the rest of the SMCR will apply to those firms in 2019.

UK government will speed up introduction of pension cold calling ban

The UK government will speed up the introduction of its planned ban on 'cold calls' relating to pensions, it has announced. The ban will be introduced through a "workable amendment" to the Financial Guidance and Claims Bill, which is currently before parliament, and then brought into force using regulations, according to the government. It also intends to take action to further boost uptake of pensions guidance through the government-backed Pension Wise service.

May: UK and EU regulation to be 'substantially similar' post-Brexit

UK and EU regulation of goods will be closely aligned post-Brexit, UK prime minister Theresa May has said. In a speech on Friday last week, May said maintaining "substantially similar" regulatory standards would help deliver a tariff- and quota-free arrangement for the supply of goods between the UK and EU in future. The UK's commitment to close alignment of regulatory standards would come under a "comprehensive system of mutual recognition" for post-Brexit arrangements for the supply of goods, May said.

Supreme Court backs solicitor in careless misrepresentation case

A Glasgow solicitor who made an incorrect statement about her client's affairs in an email to a lender is not liable for any loss suffered by the lender, the UK's highest court has ruled. In a unanimous judgment, the Supreme Court found that Jane Steel owed no duty of care to the lender, the former Northern Rock (Asset Management) Plc (Northern Rock). The court overturned an earlier judgment by the Inner House and restored the earlier judgment of the Lord Ordinary, finding it was not reasonable for Northern Rock to have relied on Steel's emails without carrying out its own checks.

UK publishes preferred approach to post-Brexit transition

UK negotiators may seek a post-Brexit transition period which lasts longer than two years as part of the next phase of negotiations, according to a recently-published document. A "draft text for discussion" states that the transition period should last for "how long it will take to prepare and implement the new processes and new systems that will underpin the future partnership" between the UK and the EU.

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