How could a merged IIB and Biba work as one?
Any potential merger between the IIB and BIBA would surely be good for brokers.
To have a single body acting as voice for all its broker members would not only give them a stronger backing in the market, it would draw on the expertise from both sides to form the ultimate broker association.
Both the IIB and BIBA have a strong broker base, but are actively different in terms of their influence upon the market.
The IIB has always been renowned as acting as a sole voice for small, provincial brokers under the leadership of the late Andrew Paddick, its former director general.
But with consolidation rife, and the number of small brokerages predicted to fall, can the IIB survive these testing times?
BIBA, believed to have double the membership of the IIB, boasts some of markets top brokers under its umbrella.
But with a number of consolidators also in its membership, the prospect of the large brokers swallowing up its smaller members is also predicted to hit its figures.
Kedric Rhodes, IIB director, says a new organisation would answer all their problems, but argues the IIB would not want to be dominated.
“I would love to see one organisation but what I would not want it to be is just pure BIBA,” he said.
The IIB’s structure could well form a new division to Biba’s current set-up, but the creation of a new federation-type arrangement is a more likely prospect.
Eric Galbraith, Biba chief executive, thinks the IIB would fit alongside BIBA, despite their differences. He said: “We do have a large group of smaller members ourselves. All the stuff we do is appropriate for small members and moving forward [working together] is a possibility.”
With both parties admitting that there is room for one-voice for brokers, the decision to merge the two could be an easy one. But the politics behind a new joint-structure could make or break any deal.
