FSA's handling of conflicts

Whatever your view of the Financial Services Authority's handling of conflicts of interest, it would seem it is leading by example. After Andrew Honey won a bottle of champagne for writing PB's letter of the month in February, PB was told he could not accept it and the following message was hurriedly dispatched by the FSA's PR machine: "As writing letters for the press is very much in the line of duty for us we felt it would not be appropriate to receive such a gift." Three days later, another communique confirmed it: "Thanks - but we feel we should politely decline as we don't write letters for reward!" Heaven only knows what finger-pointing and disgrace was averted by such fastidious foresight.

It was good to see some traditional broking-type events in Cobra's internal newsletter's diary. Events to look out for include: 'Racing, Cheltenham' (14 March); Cobra Holdings Golf Day (16 June); two other golf days; and finally the Cobra inaugural National Conference on 30 November which is, surprisingly, taking place at the Forest of Arden Hotel and Golf Club. Fore!

Following Hiscox publishing details of a claim involving a stuffed crocodile being stolen on a bicycle, Norwich Union has revealed some of its own strangest motor claims: a frozen squirrel falling out of a tree and crashing through a windscreen; a reindeer falling on the bonnet of a parked car; a frozen kebab striking a passing car; a herd of cows licking a car's paint; a zebra colliding with a car at a safari park; a motorist not being able to brake because a potato was stuck behind the pedal; and a cow jumping on a quad bike (Overheard is still trying to picture this; NU were unable to provide any photos).

With some serious competition hotting up among insurers, it is good to see rivalry is alive and well at all levels of the industry - although some of it is taking place at lower levels than others. The battle to sponsor the goodie-bags at this years British Insurance Brokers' Association conference is a case in point. Zurich, which has been the sponsor for the last few years, has been ousted - so PB has overheard - by an unnamed firm for reasons said to appeal to its chief executive's somewhat playground-level sense of justice ... The bags will reveal all.

Stuart Reid of Stuart Alexander has long held the view that a businessman is at his most forceful between the ages of 35 and 45. However, this is being hotly contested by Grant Ellis of The Broker Network. Stuart's estimate is off by about 10 years, Ellis believes: "I'm eight years older than him but I'm fitter than he'll ever be!"