UK brokers gather for PB summit

More than 50 of the UK's leading brokers attended the first UK Broker Summit at Hanbury Manor Hotel and Country Club near Ware in Hertfordshire on 5-6 March, hosted by PB. The exclusive business and networking event was chaired by PB's editor Andrew Tjaardstra and there were keynote speeches on the economy from Douglas McWilliams - chief executive at the Centre for Economics and Business Research - Sir John Banham - ex-director of the Confederation of British Industry - and current chairman at chemicals company Johnson Matthey.

McWilliams opened the conference by giving an insight into the state of the economy. His speech argued that the failure in the financial system was as a result of poor regulation, too little competition, poor incentivising of executive pay, too much box ticking and too much sheep-like behaviour.

Resolution

However, McWiliams provided some hope by predicting that the US economy will rebound in 2010 and that inflation is unlikely to be too much of a problem in the UK, iterating that there is no reason why deflation should cause inflation "with prudent rolling back of monetary easing", although he added "it will need very careful management".

Sir John Banham said on the following morning: "Compared to 1992 and the dot.com boom and bust when fear eventually trumped greed, four factors have turned a short and overdue stock market correction into a serious recession: the collision of politics and economics on both sides of the Atlantic, the 24-hour news cycle, the spectacular fall from grace of the former 'Masters of the Universe', and 18 million unsold homes in the United States." He added: "These are indeed tough times and we need to be on top of our respective games; doing more of what we have always done to compete in an unforgiving world and doing it better."

A series of off-the-record boardroom meetings discussed issues including how insurers can help brokers in a faltering economy, which highlighted frustrations with the differences between rates for renewal and existing business (see Viewpoint, p.14). In addition, the impact of SME online insurance and how far it would become part of brokers' business models in the future was discussed, dividing opinion about whether or not brokers would participate.

Customer essentials

When discussing adding value, it was agreed that it was more important than ever to provide high service standards and trustworthy advice, build long-term relationships, employ high-calibre people and promote additional products rather than just review existing ones.

In the information technology boardroom meeting, brokers agreed that the process of managing change has to be balanced with the vision of it. When discussing promoting the broking sector, ideas including forging greater relationships with local media were discussed. Everybody agreed that now is a great opportunity to promote the broking sector because much of the financial services sector is suffering from damage to its reputation.

There was also ample time for networking during the event and also some fun. Gary Richardson, BBC journalist of Sportsweek and the Today programme fame provided the after-dinner speech and a brief sports quiz, including the trick question 'How many England players were substituted in the World Cup 1996 final?'. Also on the agenda were clay pigeon shooting, a golf clinic, a body language course and wine tasting.

The first UK Broker Summit was supported by sponsors Acturis, Axa, Fortis and MSL.

POLL RESULTS

On the first morning of the summit, some of broking's leading high fliers were quizzed in an interactive voting session. Here is a selection of the results:

Would you recommend a career in insurance to your children?

Yes - 64%

No - 30%

Excluding profit shares, what do you consider a fair commission rate for a commercial combined policy excluding liability?

20% to 22.5% - 26%

22.6% to 25% - 28%

25.1% to 27.5% - 25%

Over 27.5% - 21%

In 2009, do you expect your total revenue to be ...

Greater than in 2008 - 55%

About the same - 35%

Less than in 2008 - 10%

Do you have a facility for trading SME business online?

Yes - 50%

No, but we are working on it - 35%

No, and we do not plan to develop it - 6%

In terms of staff training, which of these is your priority for 2009?

Technical skills - 42%

Management and strategic skills - 36%

Soft or interpersonal skills - 22%

None - money is too tight - 0%

Do you agree in principle with financially supporting a campaign promoting the benefits of using a broker?

Yes - 82%

No - 18%

By the end of this year, do you expect your staff numbers to have

Increased - 38%

Decreased - 33%.