An independent survey of Chartered Insurance Institute members will kill off any hope of unqualified IBRC-registered brokers gaining the proposed Chartered Insurance Broker title.
The Willoughby report, prepared by Susan Willoughby, which will go to the CII Council meeting this month, is thought to condemn the idea of grandfathering-in unqualified, but experienced, brokers. It will also recommend that the CII does not regulate and authorise broking firms.
The move will be a blow to the three-quarters of IBRC-registered brokers with no professionally qualified staff. When the IBRA is repealed, they will have nothing to distinguish themselves from other insurance sellers, all of which are expected to be regulated with no differentiation by the General Insurance Standards Council.
Biba chairman and CII Council member, Simon Bolam, said the move affecting individuals was to be expected. "There are literally thousands of brokers who have five, six, seven or eight subjects but never completed all ten (for the ACII qualification) because of changes in circumstances," he said.
In addition, the CII has pre-empted the expected rush of US firms into the UK market by negotiating a mutual recognition deal for its professional qualifications.
Under the deal, due to be signed later this month, the CII's qualifications will be accepted by the US organisation – The Chartered Property and Casualty Underwriters Society (CPCU). The CPCU qualification will also be accepted by the CII allowing US insurance professionals to join the CII.
The CPCU has 35,000 members in the US compared to the CII's 55,000 in the UK and 90,000 worldwide. The deal is a boost to the US organisation, because it gives its members access to trends and information from around the world.
But the deal protects the CII's dominance of professional standards, especially in the London market with the influx of staff working for US or Japanese firms setting up shop in the UK.
