Biba boss wins victory for brokers on risk transfer

Biba chief executive Steve White has reassured brokers by saying that Biba has convinced most insurers to grant brokers unconditional risk transfer.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has proposed that risk transfer can be granted unconditionally only in the future, which prompted some insurers to consider being more selective about which brokers they grant the deal to.

Biba employed Deloitte to survey Biba members and find a new model that will convince insurers to grant risk transfer to as many brokers as possible.

Speaking at the 2013 Biba conference, White said: “Most of the major insurers are saying ‘yes, we are happy to give unconditional risk transfer to most intermediaries.”

Deloitte senior manager Ian Jacob said: “The vast majority of insurers continue to support using risk transfer to secure their distribution channels.

“The first thing that we found was that for a large number of smaller brokers, full risk transfer is critical to their business model.”

Deloitte partner Mark McIlquham said he thought the FCA was going to increase its level of attention on brokers, but listen more too. He said: “I believe we are going to see far more focus on business models, and how you are making your money.”