Product Governance & Value Assessment

Who are ABACUS?

ABACUS is a trading name of Alan Blunden & Company Limited offering Underwriting Scheme products to General Insurance Brokers.

Our aim is to build long term relationships with our broking partners and clients. We achieve this by offering quality products which offer exceptional cover at competitive prices. Our two long-standing Directors, Barry Brook and Richard Burgess work closely with our team of over 80 knowledgeable and experienced staff to ensure that the client is always at the heart of what we do.

How we comply with the PROD 4 Requirements of PS21/5

Under PROD 4.2 ABACUS are considered to be a product co-manufacturer or just a distributor dependant upon the agreement in place with the Insurer. Where we are a co-manufacturer the Insurer has agreed to take responsibility for the required reporting to the FCA.

Residential Let Property Commercial Let Property

Unoccupied Residential Property

UK Holiday Homes

Terrorism

Unoccupied Commercial Property

Residential Let Legal Protection

Portfolios

As a distributor of the above non-investment insurance products, in accordance with PROD 4.2.14AR, we have given due consideration to:

The value of the core insurance products

We fully support the requirements of PS21/5 and the IDD, to ensure our customers receive good value and to keep our customers’ best interest at the heart of what we do, always treating our customers fairly.

The value of any additional products (including retail premium finance)

We will only offer additional products where the client does not already have cover in force. In the case of retail premium finance, this is not provided by us. However, we are aware that others in the distribution chain do offer retail premium finance, and their remuneration in this regard, forms part of our value considerations.

The overall price of the package to the customer, considering our proposed distribution arrangements

We have undertaken and documented an exercise requesting remuneration arrangements for all brokers that we may transact business with as part of a distribution chain. This exercise will be repeated regularly to ensure that the distribution chain does not adversely impact on the value clients receive.

We consider the fair value of the products we offer by using our extensive market knowledge: we are confident from the claims ratio data available to us, that these products offer fair value based upon our experience of placing business with the underwriters of these products. We are aware of their claims service, and we monitor closely the way claims are dealt with, thus satisfying ourselves that these products offer fair value to our customer.