Is your insurance marketing keeping pace with what the FCA actually expects from firms right now?
If you haven’t read the regulator’s brand new Regulatory Priorities report for insurance, published in February 2026, now’s the time. Because what it says has real implications for how you communicate with customers, and the cost of getting it wrong is significant.
This blog breaks down the four priority areas, what the FCA expects from firms and, crucially, what all of this means for your content and communications. Whether you’re a marketing director, a compliance-aware CMO or a sustainability officer trying to align your messaging with a fast-changing regulatory environment, read on.
Why this report matters
The FCA’s insurance priorities report is the regulator’s clearest signal yet about where it’s pointing its supervisory lens. It replaces more than 40 portfolio letters (the FCA’s words, not ours) and is designed to be read by boards and chief executives as a guide to action.
The report covers retail insurers, wholesale insurers, insurance intermediaries, price comparison websites, life insurers and funeral plan providers. In other words, if you work in or around the insurance sector, this is directly relevant to you.
The four headline priorities for 2026 are:
- Improving consumer understanding, claims handling and service quality
- Increasing access to insurance
- Supporting growth and innovation
- Simplifying regulation
Let’s take each one in turn.
Priority 1: Consumer understanding, claims handling and service quality
This is where the FCA is focusing its sharpest attention, and it’s the area with the most direct implications for your content.
The report is unambiguous: “too many people have poor experiences when they make a claim.” Following a Which? super complaint on home and travel insurance, the FCA has committed to continuing supervisory and enforcement investigations into claims handling, and is actively reviewing how firms communicate cover to consumers.
The regulator expects firms to:
- Be clear. Tell consumers what their insurance covers and actively test whether they’ve understood it.
- Handle claims fairly. Respond promptly, fairly and transparently.
- Track outcomes. Monitor whether products and interactions are delivering good consumer outcomes in line with rules.
That last point is critical for marketers. It’s not enough to write good copy at point of sale and forget about it. The FCA wants firms to check this continually: that their communications are doing what they’re supposed to do. That means your product descriptions, policy summaries, FAQs, renewal letters and claims communications all need to be working together, and all need to be tested against real consumer understanding.
The report also flags that the FCA’s Motor Total Loss claims work will result in around 270,000 drivers receiving compensation. It’s a powerful reminder of what happens when consumer communications fall short.
What this means for your content
Every piece of consumer-facing content needs to pass a ‘would a real person understand this?’ test. That includes your website copy, your email journeys, your renewal notices and your claims guidance. Jargon-heavy, passive-voice policy language doesn’t just frustrate customers. Under Consumer Duty, it can constitute a failure to deliver good outcomes.
Priority 2: Increasing access to insurance
The FCA’s report highlights a sobering reality: some of the most vulnerable people in society can’t access insurance at all. The regulator is working with the Government’s Financial Inclusion Strategy and the Motor Insurance Taskforce to address this, and firms are expected to engage with both documents and consider where they can make improvements.
Specific areas of focus include:
- Increasing home contents insurance uptake for social renters
- Travel insurance underwriting for people with pre-existing mental health conditions
- Premium finance. The FCA’s market study found the cost of paying for insurance monthly has fallen since 2022, saving consumers an estimated £157 million annually. Firms are expected to continue Fair Value Assessments and address any areas that don’t give consumers fair value.
What this means for your content
If your firm serves or wants to serve customers in vulnerable circumstances, your content strategy needs to reflect that. This isn’t about adding a vulnerable customer policy to your website footer. It’s about designing communications that genuinely work for people who may be anxious, digitally excluded or dealing with complex needs. Plain language, accessible formats and inclusive design aren’t nice-to-haves. Under the Consumer Duty, they’re expected.
At Alex Genn Copywriting, our specialist financial services writers have over 20 years’ experience, with global brands, SMEs and disruptive startups. Get in touch today to discuss your requirements.
Priority 3: Supporting growth and innovation, especially AI
This section of the report is forward-looking, and it’s genuinely interesting. The FCA wants a growing, innovative insurance market, and it explicitly encourages firms to experiment with AI. But there’s a clear caveat: they must monitor consumer outcomes closely.
The FCA is:
- Evaluating the risks and opportunities of AI in insurance (underwriting, claims, consumer services)
- Reviewing the cyber insurance market
- Consulting, with the PRA, on a new regulatory framework for captive insurance
The regulator points firms toward its AI Lab and Regulatory Sandbox as places to test ideas safely.
What this means for your content
If your firm is using or planning to use AI in its consumer-facing communications (chatbots, automated correspondence, AI-generated policy summaries) you need a clear governance framework for that content. Who’s checking the outputs? How are you testing for accuracy and clarity? The FCA’s message is that innovation is welcome, but responsibility for consumer outcomes stays with the firm.
This is also a moment to think about your thought leadership content. Cyber insurance is a growing market, and firms that can communicate clearly about complex risks, in plain English, to business owners who don’t necessarily have a risk background, have a real commercial opportunity.
Priority 4: Simplifying regulation
The FCA is actively working to simplify its insurance rulebook. In December 2025 it published PS25/21: Simplifying the insurance rules, and further consultations are underway covering everything from GAP insurance rules to General Insurance Pricing data and information disclosure requirements.
The direction of travel is towards relying more on the Consumer Duty as a principles-based framework, rather than stacking up product-specific rules. For firms, this means greater flexibility but also greater responsibility to demonstrate that their approach is genuinely delivering good outcomes.
What this means for your content
Fewer prescriptive rules doesn’t mean less scrutiny. In fact, a principles-based framework puts more pressure on firms to show their working, to demonstrate through their communications and their data that they’re genuinely serving their customers well. Your content needs to reflect not just what you’re legally required to say, but what a well-run firm would want to say.
The Consumer Duty thread running through all of this
It’s worth stepping back and noticing that Consumer Duty underpins all four of the FCA’s 2026 priorities. The report makes this explicit: “We will continue our work to ensure the Consumer Duty is integral to how regulated financial firms treat their consumers.”
The four outcomes under Consumer Duty (products and services, price and value, consumer understanding and consumer support) aren’t just compliance checkboxes. They’re a framework for how firms should think about every customer interaction, including every piece of content they produce.
If you’re not already thinking about your content through a Consumer Duty lens, 2026 is the year to start. The FCA has been clear that where it identifies serious misconduct, it will act, including through enforcement.
A quick compliance content checklist
Here’s a practical starting point for reviewing your insurance communications against the FCA’s 2026 priorities:
Consumer understanding
- Does your policy summary explain, in plain English, what is and isn’t covered?
- Are your exclusions clearly signposted rather than buried in small print?
- Do you test your communications with real consumers, not just pass them through legal review?
Claims communications
- Is your claims process explained clearly and proactively, not just when things go wrong?
- Do your claims communications set realistic expectations about timelines?
- Are vulnerable customer needs considered at every stage of the claims journey?
Access and fair value
- Are your communications accessible to people with disabilities or low literacy?
- Do your renewal communications make it easy for customers to understand what they’re paying and why?
- If you offer premium finance, are you transparent about the cost?
AI and emerging tech
- If you’re using AI to generate or personalise content, who is responsible for quality-checking the outputs?
- Do you have a process for identifying and correcting AI-generated errors before they reach customers?
Why specialist financial services copywriting matters more than ever
Most marketing teams understand their products but writing about financial products in a way that’s clear, accurate, engaging and compliant is genuinely difficult. It requires a deep understanding of the regulatory landscape, an ability to translate complex concepts into plain English, and the experience to know where the lines are.
Generic copywriters (and, increasingly, AI tools used without proper oversight) can produce content that sounds fine but falls short of Consumer Duty standards. That’s not a theoretical risk. The FCA is actively reviewing firms’ communications, and the Which? super complaint response shows it’s prepared to act.
At Alex Genn Copywriting we’ve been working with global financial services brands, SMEs and startups for over twenty years, ensuring their content works harder for them while staying compliant. Our client experience includes American Express, Invesco, Lloyds Banking Group, Rathbones, Miller Insurance, Atradius, Moody’s Analytics, Bank of Scotland, NatWest, Ecclesiastical and AXA, among many others. View some examples of our financial services work.
We understand the FCA’s Consumer Duty framework, the nuances of insurance communications and the difference between content that merely complies and content that genuinely serves your customers. Talk to us today to find out how we can help.
What happens next
The FCA’s timeline for 2026 is busy. Key milestones include:
- Q1 2026: Analysis of how different sales processes affect consumer outcomes begins; AI review of the insurance sector gets underway; travel insurance underwriting review for customers with pre-existing mental health conditions launches
- Q2 2026: Review of how home and travel insurance firms are improving consumer understanding of their cover
- Q3 2026: Pure Protection Market Study final report published
- Q4 2026: Value measures rules review concludes
That means the pressure on firms to demonstrate good consumer outcomes, through their communications, their data and their processes, is only going to increase throughout the year. Getting your content right now, rather than scrambling to catch up later, is the wise move.
Ready to make your insurance content work harder?
The FCA’s 2026 insurance priorities are a clear signal: consumer communications are under scrutiny, and firms that can’t demonstrate genuine clarity and fair dealing face real regulatory risk.
At Alex Genn Copywriting, we’ve spent over two decades helping financial services brands get their words right, from policy documents and website copy to thought leadership and annual reports.
If you want insurance content that’s clear, compliant and actually connects with your customers, we’d love to talk.