Insurance broker

The term Insurance Broker became a regulated term under the Insurance Brokers (Registration) Act 1977[1] which was designed to thwart the bogus practices of firms holding themselves as brokers but in fact acting as representative of one or more favoured insurance companies. The term now has no legal definition following the repeal of the 1977 Act. The sale of General Insurance has been regulated by the Financial Services Authority since 14 January 2005. Any person broking insurance can now call themselves an insurance broker.Insurance brokerage is largely associated with general insurance (car, house etc.) rather than life insurance, although some brokers continued to provide investment and life insurance brokerage until the onset of more onerous Financial Services Authority regulation in 2001.

Insurance broking is carried out today by many types of organisations including traditional brokerages, Independent Financial Advisers (IFAs) and telephone or web-based firms.Independent Advisers in the UKUnder UK polarisation rules the concept of the Independent Financial Adviser or IFA was born.

To be independent of any insurer or other third party interest ensures the client receives unbiased advise. The non-independent advisers are therefore company representatives, and thus may have a conflict of interest. Since 1st December 2004 the Financial Services Authority has introduced a new classification of multi-tied adviser who may represent more than one company. Examples of multi-tie advisory networks include Intrinsic Financial Services [2] and Openwork (formerly Zurich Advice Network) [3].UK Financial Services Authority Polarisation Rules [4