Independent broker blog: looking back and moving forward

The end of one year and the beginning of a new one is a time for reflection for many, whether basking in the glory of your triumphs or merely thanking God that you made it through another year unscathed!

So I’ve been asking myself: what are the long-term ramifications for me and my business from events in 2010?

The coalition government stuttered into office earlier this year with promises of public spending cuts and while I wouldn’t begrudge a penny of any monies paid to the emergency services, the bureaucracy and red tape that seems to suck the very life and funds out of the system was in need of some drastic surgery.

Too many suits, with too many opinions, committees for this and that; those fat cats were well and truly due a good pruning and all in the name of helping ease our deficit. What’s not to like about that?

Like many other ‘lean and mean’ SMEs in the private sector, I’ve always felt that I along with my staff had to be able to juggle many jobs all in the name of efficiency while some of these guys seemed incapable of completing one simple task a day.

What I didn’t account for was the lengths that the private sector would be expected to go to and additional financial burden we would be expected to carry.

At a time when the consumer is counting every penny, when our business customers are putting more and more pressure on us to reduce premiums, we find that the costs of running our business are going to increase.

The announcement of an indefinite delay in the review of the FCSC fees would suggest to me that we are going to have to live with the current fee structure, at least until they hit us with a whole new fee in 2012/2013 relating to the handling of client monies.

The thought of an EU ‘super-regulator’ doesn’t fill me with a great deal of hope and confidence for the future of compliance and regulation – not from the same body that wants to outlaw the male/female distinction from underwriting!

Don’t get me wrong, like any other red-blooded insurance-paying male, I would welcome the parity, but what next? Will we no longer be able to distinguish between area, city centres and rural shires – carrying the same premium, one common vehicle group? Will there be a revised rehabilitation of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act that means we can’t ask questions about past accidents or convictions?

From a business perspective, the rate increases, particularly in motor, were very welcome and long may this continue, although the consumer has got used to the ‘stack it high, sell it cheap’ mentality of the internet and this brings with it a greater burden on our resources.

As an optimist, I like to look forward and I try not to sweat my failures but always make a note to learn from them.

So what then does 2011 hold in store for the independent broker?

There are rumours aplenty about increased motor capacity in 2011, with some old familiar faces perhaps surfacing again in new guises. However, I hope that this is measured; we’ve only just begun to convince the general public that premiums have got to increase. To flood the market now with excess capacity would undermine all the achievements of 2010.

Claims service, from our insurer partners, continues to be a major concern in our offices and more and more time has to be spent liaising between insurers, their appointed repairers, assessors and adjusters. While I’m sure a number of insurers will remind me that that is what I’m paid my commission for, they are making life difficult for all concerned by not communicating.

I don’t mind me or my staff having to deliver bad news, but why not let us pre-empt that problem before the client feels compelled to chase. We don’t have to solve every problem, pulling a rabbit from the hat every time, but what we mustn’t fail to do is communicate.

Admittedly, some are better than others, but the only ‘formal’ complaints I have had to deal with this year have been those regarding claims service received from insurers, and in every exception the complaints could have been avoided with better communication.

Despite all the trials and tribulations, we’ll start the New Year full of optimism for the challenges that lie ahead. Let’s hope we can all fulfil our promises.

Peter Smits in managing director of Ashbourne Insurance