What do brokers want from 2024’s Biba conference?

The countdown to the upcoming Biba conference is well and truly on, with it being just over two weeks before the industry floods Manchester for one of the biggest insurance events of the year.

Scheduled for 15 and 16 May 2024, more than 9,000 attendees and 220 exhibitors are expected to attend this year’s event, including insurers, service providers, brokers and software houses.

Essentially, the conference provides an opportunity for the industry to network, do business together and hear from experts on a range of talking points.

“As usual, our seminar sessions will be a deep dive into critical insurance specific issues,” Emma Chapman, Biba conference director, told Insurance Times.

“[This includes] updated regulations, managing the impact of the cost of living crisis, fair value and underinsurance.”

First time in charge

The upcoming conference will be the first one that Graeme Trudgill attends as chief executive of Biba after he took over from predecessor Steve White in July 2023. Previously, Trudgill was the trade body’s executive director – a role he had held for just over 10 years.

White announced he would step down during his keynote speech opening the Biba conference last year. He told the audience that he would leave with a “heavy heart, but also huge pride at what we have built at Biba”.

Trudgill said he was “massively looking forward” to his first conference in charge – he has spent a “good amount of time and focus making sure it’s the best it can be”.

He believes that access, networking and trading at the event was key for brokers, adding that he “really wanted that to work for them”.

He explained: “It’s not always easy for a smaller broker to get to the senior underwriters at an insurer and some of them come [to the conference] armed with prospects.

“More insurers have little private rooms on their stands to do those deals with brokers.

“So, I want brokers to get the opportunity to meet people that they otherwise could not reach and Biba can help make that happen.”

Discussions

Nick Houghton, chief executive of broker JMG Group, echoed this view. He noted that the conference provided a “terrific opportunity” to sit down with the chief executives of insurers and give feedback on a range of topics, such as “what life is as a broker”.

In October 2023, Houghton claimed it was “appalling” that it can take so long for brokers to get hold of insurers as the industry becomes more digitised – he said that his firm had experienced “too many examples” where it could be tricky to speak to an insurer about a client.

“[The Biba conference is an opportunity] to just talk to them about what it’s like to be a customer, what’s working and what’s not working,” Houghton said.

“It’s just a good opportunity to feed back on what life is like as a broker supporting and working with major insurers.

“So, I fill my calendar just sitting in front of people, either telling our story or telling insurers how trading can be done better.”

Gilles Normand, chief executive of broker Academy Insurance, added that regulation would factor more into discussions this year following the introduction of new rules, such as Consumer Duty.

The Consumer Duty rules were introduced on 31 July 2023 by the FCA, requiring firms to measure, analyse and benchmark their performance across a number of metrics to bolster service.

These metrics include products and services, fair value, consumer understanding and consumer support.

In 2022, the FCA also introduced its general insurance pricing reform, which aims to protect consumers by abolishing price walking and preventing insurers from offering cheaper policies to new customers while increasing prices for existing policyholders.

“Biba is the pinnacle of the year for brokers because we are slowly going into the summer recess,” Normand said.

“So, it’s the opportunity to take stock of what’s been happening over the year.

“It’s even more important this year because there have been many changes in regulation that have been a little bit complicated to understand, especially for the small brokers.

“It’s always interesting to get the feedback of my colleagues about the practicalities [of] landing the [treating customers fairly] regulation – last year it was about the price walking issue, which was very complicated.”

M&A

Among other topics that are likely to be discussed at the conference is M&A, with the UK and Ireland continuing to be the leading force in the European insurance market.

For example, the 2023 FTI Consulting European Insurance M&A Barometer Report, published in March 2024, revealed a 31% year-on-year increase in the number of deals completed in this jurisdiction.

JMG Group is among the firms to have made acquisitions this year, with the broker having raised £100m of committed acquisition facilities at the start of the year to help strike deals.

“We have an agenda – we are a business acquiring other businesses,” Houghton confirmed.

“So, I have a shopping list of people that I would like to bump into to understand what their plans are for the future and whether there’s an opportunity.”

Academy has also been making acquisitions – it announced in March 2024 that it was acquiring broker Premierline from Allianz to expand the amount of commercial business it does.

“My targets for M&A are all over the country,” Normand said.

“Biba is an accelerator for me to get in touch with people that otherwise would take several weeks to meet.”

Theme

Each year, Biba comes up with a thought-provoking theme. For 2024, it has gone with the idea of What’s next?

The broker trade body said it chose this theme as it was a key question following challenges such as inflation and the increased use of artificial intelligence (AI).

Trudgill said that a lot of the sessions at the conference focused on this overarching theme.

“At the Biba conference, we will be discussing what’s next for insurance brokers, from cyber risk and AI to recruiting the next generation of young brokers and the changing political landscape,” he added.

”I’m already counting down the days until the Biba Conference 2024 and [I] can’t wait to welcome everyone.”