The Insurance Brokers Association of New Zealand (IBANZ) is about to emerge as a new force in the NZ financial services industry, with its official launch scheduled for April 14.

Born from the merger of the Corporation of Insurance Brokers of New Zealand and the Independent Insurance Brokers Association, the merger has taken 18 months to complete. IBANZ will represent 2000 members.

Keynote speaker at the Auckland launch will be Macquarie Bank NZ Chairman and former National Party leader Jim McLay.

IBANZ CEO Denis Orme says a key focus of IBANZ will be to provide one voice for the insurance broking sector, as its representation has previously been “somewhat fragmented”.

The new body “will have the strength, support and infrastructure to meet future challenges and opportunities in the insurance, financial services and risk management areas”.

The tasks for IBANZ include initiating education programs, a code of practice to improve professionalism, offering a unified voice to the Government and the public in financial services, risk management and insurance areas, providing enhanced negotiating power with underwriters as well as purchasing power as an aggregator to brokers, and the development of industry standards.