Sit in a roomful of brokers for long enough and the conversation will turn to insurers. And, usually, the comments focus on the lack of service, poor contact with underwriters etc.
But are things really as bad as they seem? After all, insurers spend a lot of time and effort publicising the services they offer to brokers. I recently sat on an Insurance Times awards panel judging broker support packages and was impressed with extras on offer from the largest companies.
In an effort to try to find out if all the criticism is justified, we asked a random selection of brokers, big and small, whether there are any benefits. The answer was yes.
There is always a catch. To qualify for many of the benefits, such as being sent on residential management courses, you have to be in a broker club. And of course, these extras do little in the short-term to alleviate the core problems of service.
However, as Royal & Sun Alliance broker relations director Brendan McManus put it at last year's Premium Content conference, insurers do not owe brokers a living.
One of the key areas that insurers can start offering worthwhile help on is regulation. Broker regulation will be a reality in October 2004. Some insurers have started to think about this and can offer online training packages and help with audits. For those who are not in the club, we have provided a simple checklist than can help you start the ball rolling.
For some, the effort of instituting formal compliance systems will be too much and selling up is a viable option. But when is the right time to call in the consultants? We have gathered together experts in the field who discuss the issues.
One thing is clear. Brokers will need a strategy. It has been a tough year just trying to find cover for your clients on the commercial side, while in personal lines the direct and bancassurance threat is not subsiding - now more than ever it is time to take a step back and look beyond the next year. It's tough because there is no sign that the capacity crisis will ease much, but it must be done.
Andy Cook
Editor
