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I feel we must reclaim our industry from the stock market and rescue it from the short-termism from which it currently suffers.

Obviously, the insurers themselves are divided into two clear camps when it comes to cutting costs by offshoring. Those that already have low overheads, Groupama for example, have publicly stated that they believe the move to India is doomed to fail and will backfire. Norwich Union, Axa and Allianz Cornhill - firms that already have an out of proportion support service seem to feel it is obligatory.

Allianz Cornhill is proud to declare that the first test their Indian recruits undergo is an English language test, which assesses their ability to speak clearly.

When I was advised of this, I commented on how low they must set their standards. In their favour, at least they have responded to complaints and are sending a member of their business management team to India for three months in order to rectify the problem. However, they did try the analogy that, if they set up a brand new call centre in Cornwall, similar problems would arise.

What I would like to know is whether any broker can claim that they have not been told that they are the only broker concerned about the service levels of offshore call centres?

While I have nothing against the employees of the call centres as individuals, I just wish they had a better understanding of life in the UK and a clearer knowledge of the origins of our business, how it has evolved, why we do things and what actually happens in our daily lives. This cannot be learnt from 28 days in a classroom. So far it has taken me 42 years and hopefully that is going to be just half of my learning experience.

Ian Mantel

Director, Manor Insurance.