Intermediaries will be breaking the law if they use the logo of the broker trade body Biba because they are not registered with the Insurance Brokers Registration Council, warn two brokers.
The warning comes after Biba allowed the Broker Network, which has both broker and intermediary members, to join the association last week.
Brokers John Lynch of the Insurance Advisory Service and Ian Holt of Colney Insurance Brokers both point out that a rule of the Insurance Brokers Registration Act prohibits intermediaries from using the title of broker.
"Yet this is exactly what an intermediary will be doing if it uses the Biba logo," said Lynch.
"The public would assume that they are registered brokers."
Biba first opened its doors to intermediaries last April in preparation for the new self-regulatory regime for general insurance, the General Insurance Standards Council, which will regulate both intermediaries and brokers.
But the Government has still to repeal the IBRC, while the GISC has run into difficulty and has delayed starting operating.
Grant Ellis, managing director of the Broker Network, says none of its intermediary members had used the logo yet.
Biba chief executive Mike Williams said: "We have asked the IBRC if we can continue to use the phrase 'insurance broker', and it has confirmed that it has no objection."
