Travel Agents have not made arrangements to sell insurance under the new regulations set to come into effect in January.

According to the Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA), members may be forced to stop offering their clients travel insurance which in turn could result in loss of revenue at a time when the market is faced with uncertainty.

ABTA is concerned that the number of agents intending to stop selling travel insurance in January is not known.  At the same time ABTA has no idea how many agents plan to continue selling under the new regulations but who are yet to make provisions for it.

Under the new rules, agents who want to sell insurance must either be authorised by the FSA, act as an appointed representative of an FSA authorised company or register as an Introducer Appointed Representative and pass the client on to an insurance provider.

Although ABTA is offering IAR status to members through insurance broker Citybond Suretravel, industry sources say that most agents will act as appointed representative or IAR.

ABTA head of financial ­services Mike Monk said: “If an agent sells insurance and has not made alternative arrangements from January 1 2009 they will have to stop and I am surprised how few members have rung ABTA to talk about this.

He warned: “Decide if you want to sell insurance. Speak to your existing supplier about whether it has anything to offer. Then look at the Citybond offer in respect of ABTASure.”