Industry leaders join Biba’s London group

Biba’s London chairman, Ken Davidson, has selected some of the industry’s most prominent figures to join its new committee.

The London Market Region Committee (LMRC) includes Howden’s Tim Coles, Heath Lambert’s Adrian Colosso, Towergate’s broking boss Amanda Blanc, and Lawrence Shortland, managing director of RL Davison & Co.

Davidson, chairman of Crispin Speers, said the committee would represent its 103 brokers on issues including solvency of clients, regulation and the cost of regulation, and raising the bar in professional standards.

Meetings would last an hour and members would be encouraged to speak out, he said. “I have known quite a number of them for some time. Some are known for speaking their minds, which is great. I did not want a committee of nodding donkeys.”

The LMRC replaces the London Market Brokers Committee (LMBC), which was disbanded after a splinter group formed the London and International Insurance Brokers’ Association (Liiba).

Eric Galbraith, chief executive of Biba, which helped select committee members, said the LMRC would keep in contact with Liiba and strive to avoid any cross-over.

Galbraith said: “We will not duplicate things on reinsurance and international business. But we are still interested in what goes on in the world.

“As a city, London is a specific market with its wholesale, international and reinsurance market.”