Industry news roundup: week ended 17 Feb 2014:
This week, both the Association of British Insurers and the British Insurance Brokers Association have committed to new codes of conduct to kerb criticism.
Apparently ABI members have had it up to here with accusations of poor behaviour when it comes down to things like road traffic accident claims and personal injury compensation, since they’ve gone ahead and published a brand new Code of Conduct. Now, any insurance customers of an ABI member that signed on to the new code can look forward to newer levels of transparency when it comes to personal injury lawyers that work for a particular insurer and a commitment to not not receiving any pressure to make a claim if the customer would rather not.
Some of the largest and most influential insurers operating in the UK have already signed on, such as LV, Allianz, Co-operative, Admiral, and Axa. It’s nice to see so many insurers finally caving to the intense societal pressure to be decent to their customers instead of right bastards, though I do have some misgivings about how strictly this new code will be enforced! I suppose I’m just a bit of a sceptic.
Meanwhile, Biba has taken a step from the ABI’s playbook and announced its own code of practice as well. The new code is geared towards the same things that the ABI one is – protecting the interests of customers who may need to make personal injury claims – though the wording of the code of practice is much different since the industry body is composed of brokers and not insurers directly.
Again, I’m right impressed that Biba has gone along and followed the ABI’s lead. Then again it’s not surprising in that most insurance broking firms are in that strange Limbo state of being both needed yet distrusted by policyholders and insurers alike, since they act as intermediaries for a profit. Personally I wouldn’t want to work as a broker, considering you’ve got to balance the needs of your customer against the needs of the insurer if you want to be successful. That just sounds like much too much pressure for me to be under at any given time!