Costs for UK Insurance Brokers Are Too High – BIBA

A recent report by the British Insurance Brokers' Association (BIBA) suggests that the number and cost of regulation imposed on insuring brokers is higher in the UK than in all other European countries.

Experts at BIBA called the current regime of the Financial Services Authority (FSA) disproportionate and inappropriate because costs for brokers in UK are 300% higher than elsewhere in the EU.

Commenting on the high costs imposed by the FSA, Mr. Galbraith of BIBA said that "our members are saying that the regulation burden is a greater competitive disadvantage than the amount of corporation tax they pay."

He highlighted that policymakers have already understood that insurance sector is not banking; now, the trick is to persuade them that brokers are not insurers and should not be pressured that hard.

Mr. Brown of Aon Ltd., UK largest insurance broker, said that the government should understand that high costs for brokers put UK in a disadvantaged position compared to other EU states.