Not upheld: market withdrawal and policy cancellation complaint against Maiden Life Försäkrings AB, UK Branch

Decision detail

Summary

Mrs O complained that Maiden Life Försäkrings AB withdrew her Family Protection Plan from the market, leaving her unable to obtain alternative cover due to her personal circumstances. The plan was held as part of a group policy through a credit union and was structured as a monthly renewable product. Maiden Life provided significantly more notice than the 30 days required by the policy terms and extended cover to allow customers time to find alternatives. The ombudsman found Maiden Life acted fairly and was entitled to make this commercial decision, as the policy did not guarantee lifetime or fixed-term cover and the firm was not responsible for alternative providers' pricing.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that Maiden Life was entitled to make a commercial decision to withdraw from the market. The firm provided notice significantly exceeding the 30-day contractual requirement and extended cover to allow customers time to find alternatives. Although Mrs O had been a long-standing customer and faced difficulties obtaining alternative cover due to her circumstances, the policy was structured as a monthly renewable product rather than lifetime or fixed-term cover, and Maiden Life was not responsible for pricing decisions of other providers.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website