Insurance Overview
Insurance companies supply services to a wide variety of customers, from everyday consumers to large corporations.
But do they have guidelines or policies as to who they will and won't insure? Do green and ethical considerations feature in insurance companies' risk assessments?
Might they, for example, offer coverage to munitions factories or companies with significant operations in countries with oppressive regimes? Or might they insure others with poor labour or environmental records?
Green and ethical insurance products
Green and ethical insurance products
For home, motor, travel, life and health insurance, there is a small but growing number of green and ethical insurance products available. A selection is below:
- Co-operative Insurance
Insurance type: home, motor, life and health
This provider has a comprehensive ethical engagement policy in place that governs all its insurance decisions. The Co-op's 'ecoinsurance' scheme offers cash incentives as well as environmental pledges. It offsets the equivalent of 20 per cent of the CO2 from every vehicle insured and also offers premium discounts for greener cars. - Climate Sure
Insurance type: travel
Climate Sure calculates the CO2 produced by flying overseas and pays for it to be 'offset' by funding sustainable energy projects. - Green Insurance Company
Insurance type: motor
This provider aims to offset your car's carbon emissions and offers discounts on greener cars/lower mileage. - Naturesave
Insurance types: home, travel, personal accident and illness
This company puts 10% of its personal insurance premiums in a fund (Naturesave Trust) to benefit environmental and conservation projects. It also offers a free environmental performance review for commercial clients and aims to use suppliers that support sustainable business practices. - Ansvar Insurance Co Ltd
Insurance types: home, motor, travel
Insurance is sold to individuals and organisations with a not-for-profit remit.
Your next steps
What do you do now? Check out our guide Next Steps - Insurance for suggestions on how to give your insurance policies a green and ethical makeover as well as the questions you should be asking your current or prospective insurance provider.
Insurance Search
Insurance Provider
Yorkshire Bank
Green/Ethical Products
- Basic Bank Account (Readycash)
- Personal insurance for terminal/critical illness and disability
Ethical Lending or Insurance
Parent company National Australia Bank (NAB) has a policy not to finance the arms trade, whether it is conventional arms (including landmines or any equipment designed to be used as an instrument of torture) or nuclear, chemical, biological or other weapons of mass destruction. It has similar policies in regard to tobacco, pornography and animal testing. NAB has internal credit policies on the environmental impact of its lending and signed the UN Environmental Programme for Financial Institutions, which outlines criteria for investment in developing countries. In 2007 NAB has become a signatory to the revised Equator Principles which provide criteria for lending to large project finance initiatives.
Responsible Lending
1. Credit Lending
The Yorkshire Bank offers an LTV (loan-to-value) mortgage rate of up to 80%. This compares favourably with the FSA’s Turner Review which suggests LTV rates should be no greater than 90%, i.e. that customers should have at least a 10% deposit.
No information on the bank’s LTI (loan-to-income) rate was found. The Turner Review suggests a rate of 3.5 times income for sole applicants.
The bank uses credit scoring to assess loan applications. However, it is not clear if the scoring is based on information submitted by the applicant only or if information from credit reference agencies is included.
No specific information was found as to whether a policy was in place to avoid or prevent offering unrequested increases in credit limits to customers.
2. Debt Warning
The bank issues a generic warning to mortgage customers: ‘Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage.’ No warnings to unsecured credit customers were found about the consequences of not making repayments on time or running up debts.
Customers are not referred to the FSA Debt Test or equivalent test. This test is designed to help customers find out whether you have, or are likely to have, problems with borrowing. It also has tips on what to do if customers find themselves in difficulties.
3. Debt Management and Advice
No policies were found on handling customers who have defaulted on their payments or fallen into financial difficulty. Nor are the steps leading up to repossession or court action outlined.
With regard to payment holidays on secured loans, the bank states that they are available for up to six months on residential mortgages, though it is not specified how a customer might qualify. Payment holidays are not allowed on unsecured loans, though first payments may be deferred until the 14th day in the case of a loan repaid weekly and the 56th day in the case of a loan repaid monthly.
No evidence was found that the bank offers re-housing advice or liaises with organisations such as Shelter and the Citizens Advice Bureau to work out re-housing arrangements with mortgage customers facing re-possession.
Financial Exclusion
The bank offers the Readycash basic bank account to low-income customers.
It provides access services for disabled customers in the form of talking ATMs, documentation in Braille, in-branch provisions and accessible website features.
Environment
A management system is in place to set targets and monitor progress and the bank expresses a commitment to continued improvement of its environmental performance. We could not however find specific details of the policy and the issues it seeks to address i.e. energy efficiency and waste management.
Carbon Neutral
The bank has pledged to make its business operations carbon neutral by 2010.
Equal Opportunities
No reference to employees with disabilities was found in the bank’s equal opportunities policy statement, but the areas of gender, race and sexuality are addressed.
Women on the Board
Figures from 2007 state that 11.1% of board members are women.
Voluntary Standards & Initiatives
Parent company is a signatory/member of:
Charitable Giving
Parent company, NAB reports 0.47% of pre-tax profits were used in community investment in 2007 (includes cash, sponsorship, employee volunteering, management costs, charitable gifts). Cash contributions account for 0.07% of pre-tax profit the same year.
Yorkshire Bank
- Current Accounts
- Savings
- Investments
- Credit Cards
- Loans
- Mortgages
- Insurance (Home, Motor, Life, Critical Illness)
- Student Current Account
Yorkshire Bank
Yorkshire Bank
Customer Engagement
Head Office Complex
4th Floor
51 West George Street
Glasgow
G1 2HL
