Eliot Spitzer's probe into the US insurance sector will eventually make brokers leaner and more responsive to customers, according to AIG chairman Maurice Greenberg.
Greenberg predicted that large brokers would survive the investigation but would emerge from it “more responsive to the fiduciary relationship" they have with their clients in the future.
He said that disclosure of broker commissions would become the "rule rather than the exception" in the industry, even if it were not mandated. Exceptions may depend upon the state and the type of business.
Greenberg suggested that tying practices would end and other changes in terms of broker relationships to reinsurers were possible.
"Will a broker be able to own a reinsurance brokerage firm that is getting business from the same insurance company that it wrote a retail account with?" Greenberg said.
"I don't know. It's hard to say. There are a lot of changes under way."
