Atlantas.Ai A Kwick Blocks product

Blogs · July 2026

Can AI answer for an insurance broker without giving advice?

Yes, and the line is not a matter of opinion. The FCA draws it: information is facts and figures, advice is a recommendation. The agent stays firmly on one side of it.

The short answer: yes, provided it is built to stay on the information side of a line the FCA has already drawn. In the regulator's own words, advice "requires an element of opinion" and is "a recommendation as to a course of action", while information "involves statements of facts or figures". An AI agent can give facts and figures, take details, chase documents and book time with a person. The moment a question needs an opinion about what is right for that customer, it belongs to your team, and the agent's only job is to get them there.

The line, in the FCA's words

This is not our interpretation. It is the FCA Handbook:

"In the FCA's view, advice requires an element of opinion on the part of the adviser. In effect, it is a recommendation as to a course of action. Information, on the other hand, involves statements of facts or figures."

And, just as usefully:

"simply giving information, without making any comment or value judgement on its relevance to decisions which a person may make, is not advice."

The FCA even lists things that count as information rather than advice: explaining a policy's terms and conditions, comparing features and benefits, and producing pre-purchase questions that exclude options failing to meet a customer's requirements.

Where it tips over into advice

Here is the trap, and it is the paragraph every supplier should be able to quote at you. Information can become advice if the way it is given "gives it the force of a recommendation". The FCA warns specifically about providing information on:

"a selected, rather than balanced and neutral, basis that would tend to influence the decision of a person"

So an agent that quietly ranks, filters or steers the customer towards one product is not "just giving information", whatever anyone calls it. Presentation is regulated too.

What our agent does and does not do

It canIt must not
Say when a policy renews, and what it costsTell a customer they should switch
Explain what a policy covers, as a matter of factSay an add-on is right for their business
Take the details of a claim and pass them onAdvise whether to claim, or what excess to choose
Chase the documents you are waiting onRank products in a way that steers the choice
Answer from your knowledge base, the same way on every channelImprovise when the answer is not there
Book time with an adviserStand between a customer and that adviser

If it is unsure, it says so and hands over. If the customer wants a person, they get one.

The awkward bit that most vendors will not mention

Claims notification is not obviously "just admin".

Assisting in the administration and performance of an insurance contract is itself a regulated activity when carried on for a policyholder, and the FCA's guidance says that notifying a claim and then providing evidence in support of it is "likely to amount to" exactly that. Merely giving pointers about how to fill in a claim form is not.

In practice, a broker doing first notification of loss is already authorised for this work. What matters is that the agent operates inside your firm's permissions and your firm's process, not that a software vendor waves the question away. Ask any supplier where they think that boundary sits. If they look blank, that is informative.

Who is accountable? You are

The FCA has been clear that it is not writing a separate AI rulebook. Its Chief Data, Information and Intelligence Officer said in April 2026 that there will be "no new rules", with the regulator instead publishing examples of good and poor practice.

That has a hard consequence: AI is judged against the rules you already live under. Consumer Duty, systems and controls, senior manager accountability. Outsourcing the conversation does not outsource the responsibility. If the agent says it, your firm said it.

Which is why the only sane way to run one is with everything logged and readable. You approve the knowledge base. You set what it answers and what it escalates. You can read back exactly what was said to any customer, at any time. An agent you cannot audit has no place in a regulated firm.

Why bother, if it cannot advise?

Because advice is not what is eating your week.

Regulation costs brokers around 3.3% of every premium they collect, and BIBA's evidence to Parliament is that the burden "disproportionately falls onto the shoulders of brokers themselves, reducing the time and capacity to serve customers". Meanwhile customers cannot get through: in 21% of contacts with a financial services provider, consumers found it difficult or impossible to get through or get an initial response, and 20% of claimants had to chase for a status update.

None of that needs an adviser. It needs someone to pick up, know the facts, and do what they said they would do. That is the job.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between information and advice?

The FCA puts it plainly: advice involves an element of opinion and amounts to a recommendation, while information is statements of facts or figures. An agent can give the second and must not give the first.

Can an AI agent recommend a policy?

No. That is a personal recommendation and it requires an adviser and a suitability process. The agent hands the customer to a person.

Can it handle first notification of loss?

It can capture and pass on claim details inside your firm's permissions and process. Notifying a claim and supporting it with evidence is a regulated activity in its own right, so it happens under your authorisation, not around it.

Are there new FCA rules for AI?

No. The FCA has said it is not making new AI rules. The existing ones apply and your firm remains accountable for what the agent says.

Sources

See it answer for your own business

Tell us how you run, and hear it answer live, built around your own information.