The head of the Insurance Fraud Bureau (IFB) has called for the broking fraternity to play a greater role in detecting fraud.
John Beadle, chairman of the IFB, said fraud was an issue that Biba and insurers should be tackling together. He said brokers needed better training to detect fraud.
"There needs to be more coordination between the trade associations. Biba is probably not forward thinking enough. Things are being done at a top level, but there still needs to be more done," Beadle told Insurance Times.
"Fraud is a shared problem because all the drivers for insurers, in terms of their regulatory responsibility to have sufficient controls in place, apply equally to brokers."
The IFB aims to promote fraud detection at the point when a policy is incepted rather than when a claim is made. To achieve this goal brokers must also alert insurers to fraudulent behaviours, he said.
Another source said: "Biba has been given the information needed to train brokers, but they have yet to pick it up. The lead must come from Biba."
Biba chief executive Eric Galbraith agreed that brokers had a role to play in the fight against fraud. He said: "Many believe that fraud is an insurer problem, but it is most certainly an industry problem involving insurers, brokers, intermediaries and customers.
He also insisted that tackling fraud was "high up on Biba's agenda".
"We included a session at our Brighton conference earlier this year, and it is included in the work that our technical committees carry out."
Beadle said insurers could also step up their game. "Individual insurers need to do something to raise their fraud training profile with their brokers."
