Eric Galbraith, Biba

The UK’s insurance industry is awash with data. Yet ask anyone about the true nature and size of the UK insurance market and you will get a blank look.

Yes, there are statistics for the Lloyd’s market and for the ABI, and the International Underwriting Association recently set a benchmark for the London company market. Biba also recently dipped its toe into statistical research to discover that the broking community contributed a sizeable 1% to the UK’s GDP per annum. But nothing fits together to provide a single cohesive picture for our industry.

This is very confusing for the government and policymakers who want to know the facts about our sector. Nick Starling from the ABI shared his concern with me about the dearth of information.

The challenge is to tie up all these strands of information about the industry to make one cohesive, relevant whole. It’s a huge challenge, but it’s a challenge worth accepting.

Eric Galbraith is chief executive of Biba.