ANZIIF’s new President is Marsh Chairman John Richardson, who was voted into the position at last week’s AGM. Mr Richardson is also the first – and so far only – recipient  of the institute’s revised Diploma of Financial Services (Insurance Broking).

The award of the new diploma highlights something Mr Richardson will have to tackle over the course of his two-year appointment: the institute’s relevance in a fast-changing industry.

The diploma was devised in 2000 after NIBA cancelled an agreement under which ANZIIF’s forerunner, the AII, provided training to brokers using NIBA-provided  materials. It ran for 18 months before it vanished from the list of courses.

The 2002 ANZIIF handbook said it was being revised for re-release next year, and an ANZIIF statement last week confirmed that it won’t actually be available to institute students until next year.

Students wanting to do the broking course with ANZIIF have had to do Certificate IV modules instead, which ASIC has said is not sufficient for the all-important Tier 1 compliance under the FSRA. The new diploma will solve that problem.

The major provider of broker training for the past five years is NIBA, which has awarded its Diploma of Financial Services (Insurance Broking) to about 800 students. CEO Noel Pettersen said the course is revised and updated each year, because “flexibility and relevance” are essential. “FSRA training compliance is only a part of the total picture,” he said.

Ironically, Mr Richardson could have done his assessment for the NIBA version of the diploma free of charge. As a QPIB, he’s eligible for the association’s loyalty reward scheme, which pays for the cost of compliance assessments.