IBAA abandons two-year project to find suitable online quoting product for Alberta brokers

The Insurance Brokers Association of Alberta (IBAA) has ended a two-year project to develop a made-in-Alberta, Web-based quoting program to help brokers compete in the online space.
“The board is not recommending any further action on this project,” outgoing IBAA president Mardene Watson said at the association’s annual general meeting in Jasper, Alberta on May 16. “It is clear that whether or not it is the IBAO [online quoting] product or our own product [that the IBAA might use], the holdback is funding.”
The Insurance Brokers Association of Ontario (IBAO) launched an online quoting program called myinsuranceshopper.ca in May 2008. The IBAO Web site allows consumers to obtain quotes online and helps consumers find brokers to complete the transaction.
The IBAO has presented its model to various provincial broker associations, including the IBAA. The IBAO Web site has informed the launch of similar Web site projects by broker associations in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.
The IBAA established a committee in 2009 to review the viability of an online quoting program, which would allow its members to issue quotes and policies through a broker-owned Web site.