The Underwriting Agencies Council (UAC) was not consulted by the National Insurance Brokers Association (NIBA) about plans to run its own insurance expos.

NIBA is promoting an expo in western Sydney on November 14 aimed at underwriting agencies, insurance companies, premium funders and other stakeholders. insuranceNEWS.com.au understands another expo is being planned for Hobart early next year.

The inaugural event is for exhibitors “keen to meet with brokers in western Sydney”, and is similar in format to the NIBA underwriting expos, which are run in partnership with UAC.

UAC Chairman Heath Amber told insuranceNEWS.com.au that NIBA did not mention its expo plans to his group, “even though it is going to market the event to our members”.

“We were surprised that the level of engagement you might expect – given that this is a format very similar to the underwriting expos we jointly run – hasn’t occurred,” he said.

Mr Amber has contacted NIBA CEO Dallas Booth to seek assurances that the NIBA expo will not jeopardise the jointly run Sydney expo and similar events around Australia.

But Mr Booth says his association does “work collaboratively with UAC”, adding: “The clients of UAC members are our members. We’re not in competition.”

He says the western Sydney event will not clash with the underwriting agency expos, which are mostly jointly run and held across Australia each year.

However, UAC did run an expo in Hobart last year, and Mr Amber says it was “very successful, and we were planning to do it again”.

Mr Booth says NIBA has “to keep trying new things. If they work we’ll keep doing them, and if they don’t we’ll move on and try something else.

“We’ve got brokers all over the country and we’ve got to meet their needs for learning and networking opportunities.”

He says the western Sydney expo is a response to brokers’ demand for localised events. If successful it will be introduced in other centres across Australia where autonomous NIBA subcommittees are committed to holding professional development and networking events.

The expos may also be held in non-metropolitan centres such as the NSW Hunter Valley and south coast, as well as regional Queensland.

“Our goal, at the end of the day, is to provide members with the best source of information to run their businesses effectively, and we have been working in collaboration with UAC to do just that,” Mr Booth said.

It’s understood the UAC board will convene later this week to discuss the issue.