Ratings downgrades may spark client flight to quality

The slew of ratings downgrades and negative watches across the insurance sector has brought what should already have been a high profile issue for brokers into even clearer focus.

There is no single sentence in the Financial Services Authority’s (FSA) handbook which states that brokers have to review the credit ratings of insurers, however, certain key catch-all principles for businesses, while not prescriptive, do raise clear expectations.

It is hard to argue that any broker is following princi