Be prudent over dividends, Bank of England tells insurers

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s insurers should maintain “high levels of prudence” when it comes to paying dividends given high uncertainty due to the pandemic, a senior Bank of England official said on Thursday.

“Firm-specific stress testing of affordability is a key input to board’s decisions,” Charlotte Gerken, the BoE’s executive director for insurance supervision, said in a speech.

“And we expect firms to continue to do this and maintain high levels of prudence in the face of continuing high uncertainty.”