10 May 2017Insurance

BIBA CEO warns of looming 'storm' in insurance industry

The British Insurance Brokers Association (BIBA) CEO Steve White has warned the insurance industry to be wary of current turmoil affecting the sector.

The conditions causing most concern include doubling of Insurance Premium Tax (IPT) in only 18 months and the threat of more increases to come; Ogden discount rate change used for calculating catastrophic injury damages; Increasing inflation and decreasing value of Sterling; and the coming election.

At the BIBA Conference 2017 in Manchester, he said that Brexit and the need to find suitable solutions to enable the insurance sector to continue to trade in Europe, is also an important concern.

White said: "Cost pressures within our industry, economic factors affecting insurance buyers, uncertainty and new competitive threats to the UK insurance market are all possible issues that we have to deal with. If a few of these storms materialise and hit us at the same time, they could create significant challenges for us."

Further afield are the noises of protectionism from the new US Government that could reduce the optimism of a US-UK trade deal. These added to the domestic turmoil point to the development of a perfect storm of disruption.

"Despite these clouds there remains plenty of better weather to look forward to," White added. "Our industry remains in a healthy state and continues to make a significant contribution to the UK’s service trading surplus. There are opportunities arising from insuretech, from autonomous vehicles and from the desire to really increase trust in our sector and we will be right behind our members as these opportunities develop."

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