Over the last couple of years, the trip to the British Insurance Brokers Association (BIBA) Conference has been extremely convenient for those attending from Mason Owen Financial Services Ltd (MOFS), but this year, with the Conference taking place in London at the ExCel, a little more consideration and planning was required.
As well as the new routine, it was all change for BIBA, with Steve White, formerly Head of Compliance, attending Conference for the first time as the new Chief Executive of the BIBA.
Steve’s opening address was extremely encouraging, which was underlined by our own Managing Director, Andrew Gibbons, on BIBA TV. Andrew’s interview can be seen byclicking here (Search for “New Day One at BIBA 2013”)
Although “Meeting the Growth Challenge” was the theme for Conference, in general, much of the interest for delegates surrounded changes within BIBA itself and the way that the organisation would be structured in future with the first announcements of the results of the strategic review work-streams.
The Conference is becoming increasingly high profile and this was evidenced by the fact that two Government Ministers, Mark Hoban (Department of Work & Pensions) and Sajid Javed (Economics Secretary to the Treasury – and responsible for the insurance industry) as well as Martin Wheatley, the new Chief Executive of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) were all addressing the delegates in key note sessions.
During Martin Wheatley’s address, he made reference to some thematic work being undertaken by FCA in 2013/14 involving claims, to which BIBA were able to issue details of an Industry Claims Working Group, which would enable a co-ordinated response to the FCA. This group is chaired by our Managing Director, Andrew Gibbons and you can see details of the BIBA statement by clicking here
Overall the Conference was extremely beneficial to our business and it was extremely enjoyable to hear from such high profile speakers as Hilary Devey, Nick Robinson of the BBC, Doctor Steve Bull (Psychologist to the England Cricket Team) and especially Sir Chris Hoy OBE.
So having decamped to London in 2012, certainly the MOFS party were happy to hear that the Conference will be relocating to Manchester for the next 3 years so that the traditional routine of the immediate past can resume.
