Sex games - insurers’ options after the ECJ ruling

Insurers have always used gender as a pricing factor but a ruling by the European Court of Justice means this practice must end by 2013. The practical implications of this are huge but, more importantly, does it presage the end of using age as a pricing proxy as well? Laurie Carver reports

A lawsuit filed by a Belgian consumer agency is not usually a cause for concern for the insurance industry. But the one filed by Test-Achats in 2004 with the European Court of Justice (ECJ) is an exception.

Test-Achat's concern was the rates charged by insurance firms to policyholders of different genders. A policyholder's sex has been used as a major risk factor input in many types of insurance since the industry's 18th century inception - not least in life insurance, where the longer average