Biba and the Institute of Insurance Brokers (IIB) have jointly called for a lowering of regulatory barriers and a reform of the current inappropriate style and intensity of regulation.

The two bodies’ joint response to the FSA’s consultation on how the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) should operate, calls the current Handbook to be clarified and simplified in line with the needs and characteristics of insurance brokers.

The response says the existing compliance regime is over-complicated and resource intensive and calls for a simplification of the existing rulebook.

It also warns that the existing level of fees and levies, which are the highest for insurance brokers in the EU, and the cost of compliance threatens the viability of firms.

In its conclusion, BIBA and the IIB called for the FCA to adopt more open and transparent procedures for budgeting and cost allocation.

Biba chief executive Eric Galbraith said: “The creation of a new regulator gives us a unique opportunity for a fundamental review of the way general insurance brokers are supervised. We would like the new regulatory regime to be more approachable, more knowledgeable about the markets and more sensitive to practical aspects of compliance, for both small and large firms.”

IIB chief executive Barbara Bradshaw said: “It is important that the FCA has sufficient expertise, understanding, flexibility and resources to be able to respond to the differing demands of supervising the wholesale and retail insurance broking communities.”

Read Insurance Times’ in-depth coverage of the Biba/IIB joint response here.

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