The National Insurance Brokers Association (NIBA) will begin a strategic review of the sector as it also prepares to respond to a Government inquiry into remuneration and commissions, President Eric Harris said at the opening of the group’s virtual convention today.

NIBA has sent surveys to broking firm principals to obtain their views on the preferred operating environment for assisting clients, with responses to provide input for the discussions.

“We want to discuss and identify what the industry wants insurance broking to look like in three to five years,” Mr Harris said. “The NIBA board will spend considerable time on this issue during November.”

He says NIBA will start work on the remunerations review after Christmas, with the recently released Deloitte Access Economics report on broker value providing a strong foundation on which to base the submission.

In an outline of the past 12 months, Mr Harris highlighted the impact of last summer’s natural catastrophes, the COVID-19 outbreak and the assistance provided to affected clients by brokers.

“It has been a most difficult and challenging year, but a year that has also shown the real value offered by insurance brokers to clients and the community more broadly,” he said.

This year’s virtual conference, with the theme Brave New World: Navigating the Winds of Change, will run through the week.

The awards for Broker of the Year and Young Broker of the Year will be presented tomorrow afternoon, while working sessions will include such topics as the future of broking and the industry’s code of practice.

More details are available here.