REGULATION 9
A week in
the life
Monday
a new client is a ‘health check‘. This is structured
meeting looking at 14 specifi c areas of the
The week starts with a visit to a small broker with business which have a regulatory impact and the
shop front premises writing a mix of consumer health check takes the form of a series of question
and commercial business. There are just two and answer sessions, backed up with supporting
staff dealing with the broking activities. Clients documentation from the broker.
drop in regularly and the brokers deal with these
effi ciently, obviously knowing each client and The aim is to highlight any weaknesses in
demonstrating a good rapport, but therein lies a compliance processes and then put in place a
typical problem which I see all too often. plan to address these, by working with the broker,
providing specifi c documents and draft policies
This is that the staff are so busy dealing with which can be tailored to the specifi c business and
clients, both visiting the offi ce and phoning, that regulatory areas.
it is sometimes diffi cult to hold a continuous
discussion and achieve any meaningful goals. I Thursday
know once I leave that there are good intentions,
It is time to spend a day in the offi ce catching up
but the demands from clients are such that some
on admin and report writing. After each visit, I
of areas discussed will go on the ‘back burner’.
put together a visit report which is uploaded to
the company database, so we can keep track of
Many brokers
Tuesday
what is being discussed with each client. Then it
want to ensure
Off to one of my largest clients, predominantly is a matter of following up each client visit with
writing commercial business, as it is time to do the a report for each client dealing with queries and
they are meeting GABRIEL return. My role is to sit down with the providing specifi c solutions or answers.
their compliance
accountant and go through the process and make
sure the FSA gets the return in good time. Then Friday
obligations - the rest of the meeting is spent with the fi rm’s
The week ends with a meeting with one of the
and so they ask
compliance manager looking at current FSA topics
more local brokers and we sit down to look at the
and updating then on activity from the regulator
an expert to help.
recently published Industry Guidance from the
and highlighting things they should be addressing.
FSA on commission and capacity disclosure. We
Terence Clark, go through this and I detail how this affects his
While in the area, I have arranged another
senior consultant
business and what he needs to do to ensure that
meeting with a second client who is in the same
the key messages in the guidance get passed
with RWA Associates,
locale. Our last meeting saw us start to review
to his commercial clients. We look at various
talks us through
his T&C plans and this was a follow up to see
solutions and agree an implementation plan,
what progress has been made and to fi nalise any
based upon a suite of documents that we as a
his daily business
outstanding matters. I also took the opportunity
company have designed to ensure that the whole
to demonstrate our own in-house computer based
process is a slick and pain free as possible.
training system which provides specifi c modules
for both broking staff and supervisors, as well
So then it is off back to the offi ce to catch up with
as training material on specifi c regulatory and
fi nal admin before the weekend and then fi nally off
product matters.
home for a restorative glass of something…
Wednesday
“
A trip to a new client which is some way from base,
so an early start. One of the fi rst things I do with
”
February 2010 Insurance Brokers’ Monthly
BrokerTalk 4-9 FEB.indd 6 1/2/10 13:38:39
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