The likes of the Chartered Insurance Institute and former Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) chair Charles Randell have sent a joint letter to Rachel Reeves, seeking to get the UK chancellor to make financial inclusion a key FCA priority.
According to a Financial Times report, signatories to the letter include consumer champion Martin Lewis and charity Citizens Advice.
“A market from which a significant portion of the population is effectively excluded is not working well,” the publication quoted the letter as saying.
It was reported that the signatories want the new government to take a wider approach, expanding its focus beyond motor insurance – an area in which commitments were already expressed in terms of tackling affordability.
“There are many other financial services where increasing access and participation would support hard-pressed families and boost the economy,” the letter states, the FT said.
Household insurance, for instance, is among the products that the signatories want to be looked at.
The letter comes on the heels of last month’s Labour party conference, during which Reeves promised not to return to the austerity cuts of the previous government while expressing how optimistic she is moving forward.
“I believe in a better Britain,” she said at the time. “A Britain of opportunity, fairness, and enterprise. I know that country has sometimes felt far off in recent years, as our growth, our productivity, and family finances fall behind. But it doesn’t have to be that way.
“The British capacity for inventiveness, enterprise, and old-fashioned hard work has not gone away. So, believe me when I say – my optimism for Britain burns brighter than ever. My ambition knows no limits, because I can see the prize on offer, if we make the right choices now.”
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