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From Mediation to Consulting
The International Insurance Brokerage Conference, organized at FIAR - The International Insurance-Reinsurance Forum took place on the 22nd of May in Sinaia and provided the perfect framework for a meeting between the three forces dominant on the Romanian insurance market, focusing obviously on the issues of insurance intermediation. The three forces were the representatives of insurance intermediation companies, most of the members of The National Association of Intermediation and Consulting Companies from Romania (UNSICAR), representatives of the insurance companies from Romania and, last but not least, representatives of the supervisory body.
The International Insurance Brokerage Conference from FIAR, started with a presentation of the legal framework specific to this field and described briefly the main directions in the activity of the Insurance Supervisory Commission with regard to the regulation of the Romanian insurance intermediation market.
We are concerned with defining a legislative framework that supports and helps the brokerage and consulting activities. ISC is now drafting the regulations on the specificity of insurance agents, the professional qualification and certification of the personnel working in insurance and insurance brokerage and the specifics of the broker profession, which shall be governed by the new amendments of Law no. 32/2000, stated Aurelia CRISTEA, Member of the ISC Board, during the first part of the Conference, moderated by Bogdan ANDRIESCU, President of UNSICAR.
Regarding the future norms of the Commission that will enforce the endorsement, authorization and professional qualification of insurance agents for a transparent monitoring, we must mention that the Registry of natural persons and legal entities working in insurance intermediation is now drafted, at the moment being under debate on the official ISC web site, added the above-mentioned official.
Ovidiu TIBULEAC, Insurance Department Manager for the Lawyer’s Firm BOSTINA&Associates, presented the legislation in insurance intermediation where a restrictive registry is currently turning into a permissive one.
Although we are faced with a real boom in the number of insurance and brokerage companies, this development must have an impact first and foremost in the quality of services provided. Thus, it is obvious and clear that there is a lack of specific consulting operations for risk instances, specialized technical assistance between the parties involved and the insurance industry and, last but not least, of legal consulting services. We need a complex and comprehensive legal framework, in the context where the Romanian law applicable in this field can be constantly improved, he added.
We are on the right track, the norms currently drafted to regulate these issues indicating the shift of the Romanian brokerage market towards a mature market, states Aurelia CRISTEA.
At the same time, in order to cope with the competition of insurance agents, brokers must bring added value and provide the passage from a simple intermediation activity to a higher level of consulting and risk management, concluded Ovidiu DEMETRESCU, Managing Partner at LONDON Brokers, at the end of the first part of the Conference.
The International Insurance Brokerage Conference introduced also a premier on the Romanian intermediation market, namely the first foreign broker who placed a risk with a Romanian company for a customer operating in our country. Thus, we can acknowledge the European competition starting to be seen on the territory of our country. The insurance intermediation company is from Bulgaria and it is called MARINS International. This brokerage company has corporate customers only and is focused on niche products, which are quite rare in Romania, but their demand shall increase among the corporate segment customers. Ivan DONCHEV, Managing Director MARINS International was the one to present products for business interruption or construction contractors’ liability. Given that both in Bulgaria and in Romania, the investments from other EU member states are continuously growing, the need for insurance products not present before the accession is already obvioud in these two member states. The intensity of work in the field of residential areas and office buildings constructions is well known already. They have become a clear need, and developers in this area promote the mentality and the needs regarding the operations they develop in various other regions throughout the globe.
Brokers’ pressure
The International Insurance Brokerage Conference, organized within FIAR 2007, offered the participants the opportunity to debate on issues related to the legislation regulating the insurance brokerage, as well as potential barriers brokers might encounter in their daily activity.
One of the discussions hosted by this Conference was related to the brokers’ possibility to operate on the private pension market. We are looking for a solution to regulate the brokerage activity in private pensions and, in this respect, we have launched the idea of creating a product packages in collaboration with the pension funds, stated ANDRIESCU, President of the National Association of Intermediation and Consulting Companies from Romania (UNSICAR).
The process of authorizing the marketing agents seems to me quite cumbersome given that both for Pillar II and Pillar III, the brokerage company must set up separate companies, with distinct fees and authorizations. It does not seem to me that the entry of brokers on the private pension market is really encouraged, stated Alexandru APOSTOL, General Manager MAXYGO Insurance Broker, with regard to future problems that authorized marketing agents might encounter in the future when selling pensions.
Brokers receive support from the Private Pension Supervisory Commission (CSSPP) in regulating their activity on the private pension market. The Commission shall make the necessary efforts to facilitate the authorization of insurance brokers as marketing agents for the private pension market. We shall make all efforts to promote an ordinance that encourages the participation of insurance brokers on the private pension market. Thus, we want brokers not to be forced to set up two companies so as to become authorized for Pillar II and Pillar III respectively. They shall be authorized, directly, to operate for the two pillars, stated, exclusively for us, Stefan PRIGOREANU, Member in the Board of CSSPP.
And the reaction of the future administrators was quick to follow, Brokers are vital for the future private pension market, both on the facultative and the privately administered pension market, and their input in the sales force can only be helpful, stated Mihai COCA COZMA, Chief Operational Officer AIG Life.
At this anniversary edition of FIAR, the host of the International insurance Brokers Conference, Bogdan ANDRIESCU, President of the National Association of Intermediation and Consulting Companies from Romania (UNSICAR) stated: “Ten years ago, at FIAR we were ten times fewer. Meanwhile, both the number and the income of the insurance brokerage market increased exponentially”.
Liviu HULUTA |
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Aurelia CRISTEA
Member, ISC Council |
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Bogdan ANDRIESCU
President, UNSICAR |
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Antonio SOUVANNASOUCK
Managing Partner, ASIGEST |
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Ovidiu DEMETRESCU
Managing Director,
LONDON Brokers |
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