CII: insurance brokers hindered by knowledge gap

The Chartered Insurance Institute’s New Generation Insurance Broking Group for 2021 has published a report stating a knowledge gap exists in the broking profession that is resulting in many customers not receiving the highest level of professional advice.

The group said that mandatory qualification requirements or minimum number of years’ experience should be introduced for insurance brokers, like the requirements set for insurance professionals by the Isle of Man Financial Services Authority, after conducting a survey of consumers and fresh talent in the profession.

A CII poll found that: 45% felt that knowledge of staff was the most important factor when choosing an insurance broker - ahead of price; 70% of respondents thought a professional insurance qualification was the minimum requirement already in place for an insurance broker; and 41% of respondents believed that accredited qualifications relevant to insurance were the most important measurement of staff knowledge.

A poll of followers of the London Market Group initiative’s London Insurance Life Instagram page conducted on 14 July 2021 revealed that 58% of respondents consider insurance just as prestigious a profession as law or accountancy; 49% felt that mandatory qualification requirements would have made them more likely to want to join the sector; and 54% said the perceived time commitments to completing mandatory qualifications were the biggest hurdle.

Member of the Chartered Insurance Institute’s New Generation Insurance Broking Group for 2021 Emily Kenna, director of sense risk solutions, said: “Customer-facing broking staff who join the sector generally enter in at the deep end and are required to provide detailed advice to customers, with little to no academic grounding in insurance. This presents many issues from a professional indemnity aspect as well as reducing the quality of service that customers receive.

“If we truly want to put the customer first, we must make our sector a profession by introducing mandatory qualification requirements and attract the best talent.”