Concerted effort key to winning online consumer: IBAO

Adopting a collaborative approach that focuses on common initiatives, as opposed to company-specific efforts, represents the best way for brokers to win the online client, Rick Orr, president of the Insurance Brokers Association of Ontario (IBAO), said during the IBAO’s 2012 annual general meeting on Oct. 17.

It was a message that Orr has repeated often during his term as IBAO president in 2012. “I asked the industry to work together, to collaborate to develop common initiatives for the online interaction with consumers,” he said.

While some heard the message and are working with IBAO, “unfortunately others did not and went off to build their own proprietary solutions, making it more difficult for us to win as a channel,” he said. “Collectively, we can win the online consumer and beat the directs.”

Competition from directs, consolidation and legislative needs were among the issues highlighted during presentations by representatives for provincial broker associations elsewhere in the country:

• The Insurance Brokers’ Association of Saskatchewan recently passed a bylaw, effective Jan. 1, 2013, that will allow financial institution-owned brokers to become full members if they meet certain criteria, said Garth Neher, CAIB – vice president for IBAS. The criteria include that said members must consistently maintain traditional brokerage operating practices; no more than two representatives may serve on the IBAS Board of Directors at any given time; and the broker identity program logo cannot be used by a member that maintains an office located within the premises of a credit-granting financial institution.
• Although buyers may be different, consolidation continues to be an issue of concern, noted Curtis Wyatt, president of the Insurance Brokers Association of Manitoba. “Credit unions purchasing brokers continues to be a concern; brokers owned by credit unions buying brokers continues to be a concern. Directs continue to be a concern in our province as well,” Wyatt said.
• “Doing business with a broker is a choice that consumers make. Market consolidation should not end up limiting or eliminating this choice,” commented Catherine Mainguy, chairwoman of the Regroupement des cabinets de courtage d’assurance du Québec. Mainguy also noted Quebec’s new finance minister has said the law on distribution of financial products and services will be revisited in 2013.
• Earthquake pricing, capacity and deductibles are increasingly becoming a major concern in British Columbia, in part because of the catastrophic events in recent years and reinsurers being reticent about the Pacific region as a whole, noted Andrew Tablotney, president of the Insurance Brokers Association of B.C. There is also confusion and frustration surrounding the very recently amended Strata Property Act, which Toblatney argued is in dire need of a rewrite.