We as a broking company have been spending a substantial amount of time courting insurers, visiting their offices and wooing their staff.
Seeing what they go through on a day-to-day basis is unbeleivable. If the senior managemanet of the "big five" insurers do not act soon there will be no one left for brokers to deal with.
The service we are given by these companies (we are a relatively large independent brokerage) is quite frankly appalling.
There are staff who do not know about the principles of insurance, who cannot act on straightforward instructions, who think we are competing against them and are afraid to tell the truth.
These are all prevelant in the offices of the major companies. Unless you have visited an insurer's office lately you will not know the true standard of staffing levels and morale. They are both at the lowest possible ebb.
Insurers are not investing in staff, technology or expertise to give to the broker fraternity.
I truly beleive in the future of our industry where, particularly in the broking area, there is great expertise and experience, but insurers must invest some money in staff otherwise there will be no future. Never mind regulation or cover issues, which in themselves are huge issues. I implore the senior management of insurers to act now.
This has been the same in my opinion for 20 years, but is getting worse. Never mind also the pat-on-your-back awards ceremonies, invest in the future instead of making redundancies/cut backs.
If all insurers could work on the model of good brokers, who invest in their staff to provide service to make more money, rather than cutting costs, this would be a way forward. There is only so much cost-cutting that insurers can do.
In addition to praising the few, this sorry state needs to be addressed by your publication and others before it is indeed too late. The consequences could be dire. I do not write to any publication usually, but I feel that our industry is in a terrible state.
Gary Field
ARG Group
London
Send letters to: Insurance times, 30 Cannon Street, London, EC4M 6YJ or Email to
andy@instimes.co.uk or Fax : 020 7618 3499
