Will Your Holiday Home Insurance Policy Continue After Brexit?
As a UK resident and holiday homeowner, you may be concerned whether your building and contents insurance for your second home in Europe will continue to provide cover post Brexit if there is no deal. Or if you’re a UK citizen resident in another EU country, you might wonder whether your bank accounts and other financial products provided by the high street UK banks will still be available to you after Brexit.
The first thing is to understand what the current arrangement is for financial services in the EU. Basically any financial services institution authorised within an EEA (European Economic Area) country conduct business and provide financial products and services within any other EEA country including its own. This is subject to them using an agent, opening a branch, or providing cross border services. At the moment, the UK is part of this arrangement so any UK based financial services firm can operate throughout Europe, and provide products, services and policies to a UK citizen who is resident overseas within the EU. UK citizens tend to trust the brand names they know, especially when they can speak to an English call centre or advisor in provision of those financial products.
photo/ DANIEL DIAZ via pixabay
So what will change if the UK leaves the EU with no deal? Well suddenly the above arrangement, dubbed ‘passporting’ will no longer be available to UK based companies. Their provision of products abroad will be dependent on them using a subsidiary or intermediary that is registered in an EU country. Does this mean that all financial products will disappear overnight? Well no, the large financial services firms have anticipated Brexit and for many have set up subsidiary companies that are based within other European Union states, and have switched international products to these subsidiaries.
For example Barclays Bank has expanded its subsidiary Barclays Bank Ireland to take over it’s European business allowing it to continue servicing clients in Europe after Brexit. RBS is shifting its European business to its subsidiary NatWest Markets N.V based in the Netherlands for the same reasons. So for most banking products as long as the banks shift the product across to their European subsidiary the product will continue as normal for its customers. For UK citizens now living within the EU who still hold financial products with UK banks this should mean they are unaffected.
With regard to insurance products on holiday homes in Europe, if the insurance cover is provided by a European firm then the cover will continue, but if it is provided by a UK firm then it would be advisable to discuss how Brexit will affect it as soon as possible with your provider, as it may mean that you need to arrange alternative cover. Thankfully some insurance companies such as Intasure have made arrangements for their current policies to be covered by European companies, so that customers are not affected by Brexit, and their insurance cover remains in place for the duration of the policy, and an affordable renewal will be made available at the end of it.
Inevitably some companies and financial products will be affected by Brexit, such as travel insurance claims for delays during the Brexit period, and medical and health claims with the end of the European Health Insurance Card. It is advisable to talk to your financial product provide to understand now what may happen at Brexit and make alternate arrangements if you’re not confident in their ability to provide continuity of service through the transition period.
Author: James Daniel
Sources:
https://home.barclays/who-we-are/our-strategy/preparing-for-brexit/
https://personal.rbs.co.uk/personal/support-centre/brexit-hub.html
https://www.aviva.co.uk/aviva-edit/your-future-articles/brexit-and-your-policies/
