Applause for the watchdog

In this age of regulation, or lack thereof, the Financial Services Authority has it about right on commission disclosure. It has listened to a cross-section of brokers, insurers, customers and trade associations to give the profession the opportunity to self-regulate with the FSA keeping a close eye.

The British Insurance Brokers' Association and Institute of Insurance Brokers must be given credit for dedicating time, resources and energy to present the best possible case for independent brokers across the country. Clearly, not everybody agrees that commission disclosure should not be mandatory but that is healthy, showing the diversity of brokers and how different companies want to approach issues.

Customers have a right to know about commissions, especially where the sale is on a contingent commission basis. However, customers should not be seen as qualified judges on the rights and wrongs on commission levels. Capitalism breeds differing models and sometimes understanding them from afar can be difficult and incorrect conclusions can be drawn in the minds of buyers.

More clarification about sales chains, for example, is not necessarily going to improve the customer's purchasing experience or their subject knowledge, though the FSA has made clear that it wants improvement in this area. Members of the profession must now collaborate to ensure that further action by the regulator is not necessary.

The FSA has noted that customers "do not place a high value on commission information". If this is the case then perhaps the regulator will leave it at that.

Changing name

So Venture Preference is re-branding as Bluefin and Norwich Union is becoming Aviva. That's something to talk about other than the economy! NU has defended its decision to use well-paid celebrities in its campaign as the "fastest way to get the message across". Fair enough: many are talking about it.