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The general insurance and wider financial services industries may have been thrown into a period of uncertainty post Royal Commission but – according to a number of key figures – the broker channel may actually be stronger as a result of the contentious inquiry.
“If you look at what’s happened with mortgage brokers, prior to the Royal Commission, about 55% of loans that were settled in Australia were sourced through mortgage brokers,” said Mair.
“In the post Royal Commission world, that figure has now drifted up to 60% or 61% – that’s partly because of tightening credit and clamp downs making it harder but it shows that customers are looking for assistance, they’re looking for support, and they’re looking for advice.”
While the statistics apply to mortgage brokers, Mair suggested that there’s no reason the same pattern won’t apply to insurance brokers as businesses will seek out professional help to navigate the new environment.
“The advice, the assistance, the support they provide to either individuals or businesses, I think there’s going to be a role for brokers, and an important role, well into the future,” he said.
Zurich CEO Tim Plant agreed that the service offered by brokers is crucial and said it’s only set to become even more important following the Royal Commission, as much of the weight falls on brokers’ shoulders to begin rebuilding consumer trust.
“It was pretty tough to watch our industry and the broader financial services sector up on stage and, as we all know, it was the worst 0.1%, or less, of claims experiences that were up there but it was certainly eroding the trust of our consumer base,” said Plant.
“We’ve got a really important job ahead over the next three to five years to rebuild that and I think the advice model provided by brokers is going to be critically important to do that, to rebuild consumer trust and to really ensure that we put the industry back on the right footing.”
