BIBA chief calls for brokers to 'dig deep'

In his opening speech, Eric Galbraith, chief executive of the British Insurance Brokers' Associa-tion, addressed the roadshow's theme of Performance & Profitability by saying he believed this generation of brokers was subject to greater pressures than any before it.

Galbraith urged brokers to 'dig deep' in response to the range of challenges they currently face. He also suggested that in better understanding the issues prohibiting performance and profitability lay "the seeds of our (brokers') regeneration".

"Make no mistake about it, the quiet, sedate industry we grew up in has gone for good," he said, adding the rhetorical question: "But can we say we are regarded as a sector that has set the standard for others and is world-renowned? The world has changed while we were doing business and we must pay heed to this and take charge of our own destiny to become a new breed of professional and be regarded as such." Galbraith continued to throw down the challenge: "In 20 years' time, will they say brokers took the initiative in 2005 and pressed the point about the value of professional service or will they say brokers allowed it all to be taken from them?"

Galbraith also said that a common response to great pressure was to put one's head in the sand, and warned: "The world is changing at such a pace it is easy to become immune to the magnitude of its significance." He concluded: "We must work out how to respond and to do so by applying pressure of our own."