Friendly Societies Act 1992

56 Linked long-term insurance contracts

(1) Regulations may be made by the Commission, with the consent of the Treasury, as respects the matters specified in subsection (2) below, in relation to contracts made by friendly societies the effecting of which constitutes the carrying on of insurance business falling within class III in head A in Schedule 2 to this Act.

(2) Regulations under this section may make provision for—

(a) restricting the descriptions of property or the indices of the value of property by reference to which benefits under the contracts may be determined;

(b) restricting the proportion of those benefits which may be determined by reference to property of a specified description or a specified index;

(c) regulating the manner in which and the frequency with which property of any description is to be valued for the purpose of determining those benefits and the times at which reference is to be made for that purpose to any index of the value of property;

(d) requiring friendly societies that enter into such contracts to appoint valuers for carrying out valuations of property of any description for the purpose of determining benefits under the contracts (being valuers who comply with the prescribed requirement as to qualifications and independence from the society) and to furnish the Commission with the prescribed information in relation to such appointments;

(e) requiring societies that enter into such contracts to furnish in such manner and at such times or intervals as may be prescribed such information relating to the value of the benefits under the contracts as may be prescribed, whether by sending notices to their members, depositing statements with the Commission, publication in the press or otherwise;

(f) requiring societies that enter into such contracts to furnish to the Commission in such manner and at such times or intervals as may be prescribed, such information certified in such manner as may be prescribed with respect to so much of their business as is concerned with the contracts or with any class or description of the contracts, and enabling the Commission to publish such information in such ways as it thinks appropriate.

(3) Regulations made for the purposes of subsection (2)(e) above may, in relation to notices required to be sent to members of friendly societies, impose requirements (whether as to type, size, colour or disposition of lettering, quality or colour of paper, or otherwise) for securing that such notices are easily legible.

(4) The Commission may, on the application of any friendly society, alter the requirements of regulations under this section so as to adapt those requirements to the circumstances of that society or to any particular kind of contract entered into or proposed to be entered into by that society.

(5) Regulations under this section may, to such extent as may be specified in them, apply in relation to contracts entered into before the coming into operation of the regulations, including contracts entered into before the passing of this Act.

(6) In this section “prescribed” means prescribed by regulations under this section.