SRA Standards and Regulations

Insurance distribution activities

You may only carry on insurance distribution activities as an ancillary insurance intermediary. You must not carry on any insurance distribution activities unless you: are registered in the Financial Services Register; and have appointed an insurance distribution officer who will be responsible for your insurance distribution activities. If you are carrying on, or proposing to carry on,...

Confidentiality and disclosure

You keep the affairs of current and former clients confidential unless disclosure is required or permitted by law or the client consents. Where you are acting for a client on a matter, you make the client aware of all information material to the matter of which you have knowledge, except when: the disclosure of the information is prohibited by legal restrictions imposed in the interests of...

Remuneration and the client's best interests

You must not: be remunerated; or remunerate or assess the performance of the firm's employees, in a way that conflicts with their duty to act in each client's best interest. In particular, you must not make any arrangement by way of remuneration, sales target or otherwise that could provide an incentive to the firm or its employees to recommend a particular contract of insurance to a client...

Annex 1: Transitional arrangements under paragraph 7(3) of Schedule 5 to the LSA

A licensable body will be eligible to be a recognised body if as at 6 October 2011, it has been recognised by the SRA under section 9 of the AJA but has an interest holder or manager that is not a lawyer or a legally qualified body. It shall continue to be treated as a recognised body for the purposes of these rules and the SRA's regulatory arrangements until: such time as it ceases to comply...

Compliance officers

If you are a COLP you must take all reasonable steps to: ensure compliance with the terms and conditions of your firm's authorisation; ensure compliance by your firm and its managers, employees or interest holders with the SRA's regulatory arrangements which apply to them; ensure that your firm's managers and interest holders and those they employ or contract with do not cause or...

Responsibility

Each authorised body, and any principal of such a body, must ensure that the authorised body complies with these rules. Each authorised body that has been unable to obtain a policy of qualifying insurance prior to the expiration of the extended policy period, and any principal of such a body, must ensure that the authorised body, and each principal or employee of the body, undertakes no...

Cross-selling requirements where insurance is the ancillary product

When you offer a non-insurance ancillary product or service as part of a package or in the same agreement with an insurance product, you must: inform the client whether it is possible to buy the components separately and, if so must provide the client with an adequate description of: the different components; where applicable, any way in which the risk or insurance coverage resulting from the...

Establishment and maintenance of fund

The SRA shall maintain the Indemnity Fund in accordance with these Rules. The purpose of the Indemnity Fund is to provide indemnity against loss as mentioned in section 37 of the SA as extended by section 9 of the AJA, Schedule 4 paragraph 1(3) of the European Communities (Lawyer's Practice) Regulations 2000 and section 89 of the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990 in the circumstances, to the...

Client money and assets

You properly account to clients for any financial benefit you receive as a result of their instructions, except where they have agreed otherwise. You safeguard money and assets entrusted to you by clients and others. You do not personally hold client money save as permitted under regulation 10.2(b)(vii) of the Authorisation of Individuals Regulations, unless you work in an authorised body, or...

Deduction from grants

The SRA may deduct from any grant such amount as it sees fit so that the applicant will not be in a better position by reason of a grant than the applicant would have been in if no loss had been sustained. The SRA may deduct from any grant such amount as it sees fit to represent monies already recovered, or which will or should have been recovered, by the applicant through other means in...