Brokers outline flaws in Insurance Bill

The new Insurance Bill will not provide equality between small brokers, large insurance companies and banks, according to the Professional Insurance Brokers Association. Making a submission to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Enterprise and Small Business yesterday, the association's chairman Mr Patrick O'Connell said it was not against disclosure in principle but had serious concerns about the way it was implemented. "With disclosure of commission, brokers will not be able to show the spread of commission over the term of a policy while the banks will be able to offset commission into other areas of their business which will make them look cheaper."

Under the provisions of the proposed Insurance Bill, insurance brokers and agents must disclose the amount of commission they receive for selling life savings products and pensions.

Consumer groups have insisted that this information is essential to enable purchasers to select the best deal.

Mr O'Connell said small brokers were vulnerable to radical changes in the marketplace and the proposed disclosure and transparency clauses, if introduced, would put a lot of small brokers out of business.

The association says disclosure will only show the high commission that small brokers charge in the first few years of a policy and will not reflect the long-term input by brokers over the duration of the policy.

The association has called for the appointment of an independent actuary to the industry which it sees as essential to give the consumer a real view of commission rates of all insurance providers.

The association says brokers are not able to display costs and overheads, which would be instructive. The association claimed that the bill as it stood might erode the independence of small brokers and would be used by the bigger players to flex their muscle and expand their market share.

The draft heads of the Bill are expected to come before the joint committee in the next three or four weeks.