’These changes within Biba will greatly assist members,’ says chief executive 

Biba has announced a series of new hires that will work across its main board as it looks to ”greatly assist” its members with the help of “new voices”.

Among the new appointments is David Sparkes, who has been appointed as regulation director.

Speaking to Insurance Times earlier this month (12 July 2023), Biba chief executive Graeme Trudgill said regulation was a key talking point for brokers and an area where the association would invest in more.

For example, the FCA’s Consumer Duty regulation, which came into force today (31 July 2023), sets out a slew of updated regulations that firms must follow.

Essentially, Consumer Duty requires insurance firms to review their products and services against a new standard of fairness, with companies working hard to measure, analyse and benchmark their performance across a number of different metrics.

Biba said appointing Sparkes ”places regulation firmly at the top of our agenda”.

Sparkes added: “It is a great honour for me to be invited to join the main board and I look forward to continuing to support and represent members in my new capacity.”

Conference director

Meanwhile, Biba has also appointed Emma Chapman as its new conference director.

She said that she was ”proud to have been invited to join the board” and highlighted the importance of the Biba conference.

”The Biba conference is an important event in the insurance calendar and I’m looking forward to building on its success and helping to shape the future of Biba,” she added.

Lindsay Campbell, who was formerly in that role, will remain in the conference team as conference manager on a part-time basis.

‘New voices’

Meanwhile, Biba said that in regards to its environmental, social and governance (ESG) practice, Vannessa Young will take responsibility for sustainability alongside her compliance and advisory board management roles.

The association also said it had made provision for other senior managers, including head of commercial Nicola Maguire and head of insurance Alastair Blundell, to have wider remits and attend certain main board meetings.

Trudgill said: “I see the overarching themes of issues that are relevant to members being encompassed by regulation and legislation, investment in operational support for members and the future. 

“These changes within Biba will greatly assist members. Having new voices will enable us to stay on top of the broad range of matters that impact brokers.”