In all the thousands of words that have been and will be written and spoken about Frank Earl this week, his vision on the future for brokers, stated more than seven years ago, may be forgotten. It shouldn’t be.

Mr Earl, who died last week after a long and brave battle with cancer, was farewelled at a funeral in Sydney this afternoon. A who’s who of the general insurance industry gathered to pay their respects.

In January 2003, shortly after being elected President of the National Insurance Brokers Association (NIBA) for a two-year term, Mr Earl took a long hard look at the trials and tribulations the industry was facing. And there were many.

While the implementation of the Financial Services Reform Act (FSRA) was at its height, the collapse of HIH and the revelations of the royal commission and criminal cases that followed seem like faint memories now, in 2003 they were very real and very dangerous.

The industry was traumatised by new and impossible rules, while a seemingly endless line of criminal prosecutions and bannings of once highly regarded managers was destroying the industry’s reputation as quickly as it destroyed theirs. 

But Mr Earl saw opportunity in adversity. In an interview shortly after taking up the NIBA presidency, he said brokers needed to “work with the underwriters on some positive responses to negative community attitudes”.

He saw the demands of the FSRA for higher levels of professional education and compliance with new rules on responsibility as something that would “cement our place in the industry as the trusted choice of business”.

Reputation was always an issue close to Mr Earl’s heart. He believed brokers formed a crucial link in the insurance sales chain, but was deeply concerned the unfolding HIH saga would sully the public’s perception of insurance brokers.

The FSRA caused angst, often outright fury, among the old guard of insurance brokers, but Mr Earl knew the painful process was a pivotal step forward in professionalism and accountability.

Another of his passions was the need for clarity on the use and reliability of foreign insurers who weren’t licensed in Australia – a hot subject in a market as hard as it was in 2003.

Speaking at a NIBA briefing in Melbourne in March 2003, Mr Earl laid out the brokers’ conundrum.

“Brokers are damned if they use foreign insurers and damned if they don’t,” he said.

“Customers need to be reminded that the industry is currently a sellers’ market, not a buyers’ market. They have to understand that.”

Around the same time the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) was locked in discussions with Federal Treasury over how to deal with the foreign insurers. In March 2003 APRA told Sunrise Exchange News – the forerunner to insuranceNEWS.com.au – it was compiling a paper outlining possible steps to control the situation.

Mr Earl’s championing of the issue saw its profile rise among those who held sway in Canberra – but it would nevertheless be five years before new regulations were introduced to clarify how brokers could use unlicensed foreign insurers.

But if there is any one thing that defined his leadership during those two years as NIBA President, it was his championing of professional education. A strong supporter of NIBA’s role in educational development through NIBA College, he also encouraged brokers to support in-house programs.

A tireless supporter and long-time director of NIBA, his vision for brokers as “the trusted choice” of business has now been realised. Most surveys when he spoke so confidently in 2003 predicted brokers would lose their market dominance to the insurers’ direct sales initiatives; today they show brokers’ with a virtual stranglehold on commercial insurance distribution.

Considering his support for a professional and highly ethical broking fraternity was advocated at a time when the industry was in considerable disarray, Frank Earl’s foresight is now seen to have been as crystal clear and strong as his professional and personal reputation.