It was all smiles at the National Insurance Brokers Association (NIBA) last week following a meeting with Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer Chris Pearce. NIBA CEO Noel Pettersen says Mr Pearce, who met with the NIBA board for a briefing on his planned review of the Financial Services Reform Act (FSRA), indicated he is prepared to review “a number of areas” that have been particularly difficult for brokers.

“He obviously intends to get this thing right,” Mr Pettersen said. “We are very encouraged.

“We assured Mr Pearce that we support the underlying intent of the FSRA legislation, which is to raise professional standards and ensure consumers know exactly what they’re buying.

“But he was very positive about the need to reduce complexity and increase consumers’ ability to access expert advice. At present the FSRA is just not achieving that.”

Mr Pettersen said Mr Pearce told the NIBA board that he has spent the past few months becoming completely familiar with the FSRA. “He certainly displayed a good knowledge of the intricacies of some of the issues.”

Mr Pearce told Insurance & Risk Professional magazine last month that “different people have put their own bits in [to the FSRA] and you’ve ended up with something that started off as a very good idea… developing into something that’s been very difficult to actively implement”.

It’s understood the review process is planned to be relatively swift and informal. “I certainly get the feeling he wants to get this behind him,” Mr Pettersen said.