Ashwin Mistry, Brokerbility

I am becoming seriously worried about the attention span of my clients.

That’s not a criticism of them, rather a stark observation on the growing burden of information I have to get across at new product meetings. To cover regulatory demands, material facts, marketing strategy, risk assessment, duty of disclosure, demands and needs, insurer performance and remuneration methods, I need a two-hour meeting for even a moderate sized case. I’m lucky if I get half an hour.

Businesses are under pressure, so I don’t blame them. But I’m equally aware that failure to carry out my duty in any one of those areas can come back to bite me. Brokers are increasingly being obliged to walk a tightrope, balancing the costly business of due diligence and the pressures of selling products. It is, I fear, resulting in the sort of two-tier market that benefits neither the broking sector nor our clients.

Ashwin Mistry is chairman of Brokerbility