Letter to the editor

TIME TO BANG HEADS? NO: TIME TO GET GOING!

Your Leader ("Time to Bang Heads", February 2001) paints an unfair picture of the service that the intermediary trade associations, in the general insurance sector, provide for their members. Yes, it is regrettable, that there is currently a very public

Yes, we all want a level playing field and the consumer demands fair play, but does this mean that we all need to see eye to eye all the time? As we are privileged to live in one of the oldest democracies in the world and as founders of the modern "parliament" - the place to speak and to listen - shouldn't everyone be allowed to voice their opinions?

The problem is, however, that many of those opinions are based on misconceptions. There continue to be many theories expounded in the name of GISC by those who are really not grasping the issue. It is sad as well that, despite several invitations, one of the trade bodies continues to take its remote stance outside the discussion platform.

Despite this voluntary exile, GISC is fully representative of the industry. Brokers and intermediaries have played and will continue to play - an active and fruitful role in establishing a regime of self-regulation for our industry. I fear that those who continue to cling to old, discredited regimes, which are well past their sell-by dates, show an unwillingness to move forward and to wake up to the realities of the world about us.

Brokers and intermediaries must be part of the future. That future is GISC. Some bemoan the fact that they don't want to be regulated by insurers. But where, before GISC, was there the means for intermediaries to make official complaints against insurers? Only this month, for example, the Aiib took Direct Line to task over one of its advertisements and made an official complaint to GISC. When have we ever had a referee willing to enforce this level of fair play before?

The book has been re-written on general insurance. If intermediaries want to compete with the likes of Virgin, the AA and Tesco's - who have very successfully crossed the product boundaries to become household names in insurance - then they need to compete on the level playing field that GISC provides.

So come on, brokers and intermediaries, get real and move with the times!

Mike Slack, Chairman, The Association of Insurance Intermediaries & Brokers (Aiib).