Timing is everything for brokers in Canada’s largest marketplace this year as they await changes to what can only be described as a challenging auto scheme.
“We are starting to hear from our brokers that placing a piece of business with certain companies is not as easy as it was three months ago,” said Insurance Brokers Association of Ontario ceo Randy Carroll.
“Companies are starting to show more concern over their existing books of business versus aggressive growth. There is some hesitancy in the market.”
No fewer than three legislative issues sit atop the 2010 agenda for Alberta’s brokers association this year, IBAA ceo Ginny Bannerman told Thompson’s.
The first is the Trade, Investment and Labour Mobility Agreement between Alberta and B.C. Some credit unions thought they might be selling insurance east of the Rockies by now, but the association is lobbying hard against that.
Their Prairie colleagues to the east will be grappling with smoothing their relationship with credit unions.
“Obviously we have our issues with them in regards to separate and distinct (offices) and tied selling,” said R&J McKay’s Darryl McKay, current president of the Saskatchewan association.
“And they have their issues with us, too, because they maybe don’t feel that they get full representation on the board or maybe their voice isn’t heard as much.”
New Brunswick association president Georges Leger described the outlook there as marginal.
“Urban N.B. is holding its own while the rural and northern areas continue to struggle economically . . . the effect on brokers pretty well follows the economy of the area they service.
“But overall the insurance market and the products we sell are fairly stable province-wide compared to what it was early in the past decade.”
More in our January 11, 2010 edition
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