Opinion: Ant Gould on transparency, broker ownership and conflicts of interest

While most in insurance manage to avoid potential conflicts of interest, more transparency can only be a good thing, says Ant Gould

Conflicts of interest arise at the best of times in the world of insurance broking.

In my mind it is partly due to the very nature of commission – after all, the broker is in effect being paid by an insurer.

The existence of different insurance company commission strategies, volume-style deals and access conditions reflect this relationship. As an aside, I have the same queasy feeling when it comes to loss adjusters, where the issue of independence can seem to be a bit opaque from the outside