Becoming an online insurance broker?
I posted a tentative question the other daylight about starting a business as an online insurance broker, but got shot down contained by flames based on the fact I know little in the order of the industry. Those who did so may well be right, but before I remove the idea completely, could someone please point out the inacurracies in the assumptions I hold made about how it might work?
- Arrange a deal beside a insurance carrier
- Create web site complete near online quote system
- Promote web site via PR and search engines (This is what I do for a living now)
- Sell policies - I purloin commission for sale and carrier take on the policy
I imagine that this is either tremendously oversimplified, or completely wrong, so I'd be interested to hear where on earth my ideas are flawed.
Feel free to be as harsh as you resembling if I sound a bit like a muppet. ;)
Answers:
I don't know as to where on earth in the world you are, but if you were surrounded by the UK which I know you are not by the terminology you use, you would have to slip away some assurance/insurance examinations before you could sell insurance.People surrounded by this Country cannot just go and go insurance since it is regulated by a governing body the FSA.
This has be brought about in decree to stop unsuspecting people being duped, and to construct sure that everything is above board.
You should do some research in your Country to make sure that you are acting correctly.
Jonny,
I can support what the previous poster says 'Welcome News' he is a very experienced broker, trading for copious years in the UK & has a glorious level of knowlege on these matters. The proposal he gives you is sound direction.
FSA regulations are a minefield & can be extremely complex. Those of us in the industry have have to adapt our businesses to meet requirements - for lots it has been a long strong process ( and these are people who have be in the business for many years). For this justification there is a certain foreboding that anyone wanting to start up from scratch must be extremely brave or certifiable.
If you are deadly serious you hold a lot of work ahead of you.
Again - being a 'broker' and have a purely online presence does not necessarily fit. Brokers usaully give advice as to suitable products - you cannot endow with advice if you are only offering a click- quote - buy product online
There is some discussion within the Insurance Trade press at the moment as to whether comparison websites should be regulated by the Financial Services Authority or not.
If you become an agent of an insurance carrier e.g. an agent of Fortis, then you will enjoy to be regulated by the Financial Services Authority or become an appointed representative of a company that is regulated by the FSA - this is certain.
the give somebody the third degree then becomes: If you are supplied access to insurance companies quotation systems and provide quotes base on information provided are you then a representative of the company, an agent of the company or something else?
I suggest you look at http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pages/Doing/Do/ind… which gives details as to whether you requirement to be authorised by the FSA for your business model and also suggest you contact the FSA and, if you can get any advice from them, they might insist on you further.
I am not stopping you from becoming an 'online insurance information provider' but 'broker' implies advice (unless you voice you are not and don't give any - which is tricky), it is just that you hold to be careful to ensure that you obey the current rules something like insurance regulation.
To give an example, I was considering providing a service to assist customers find local insurance brokers however that activity could be construed as assisting in the running of an insurance contract - and thus require separate regulation.
As a (regulated) insurance broker myself, I and many like me would be annoyed if someone near no experience or knowledge of insurance is allowed to sell policies through the internet lacking having to obey what I am sure you hold found out is a large body of rules via a loophole in the law.
Related Questions:
- Arrange a deal beside a insurance carrier
- Create web site complete near online quote system
- Promote web site via PR and search engines (This is what I do for a living now)
- Sell policies - I purloin commission for sale and carrier take on the policy
I imagine that this is either tremendously oversimplified, or completely wrong, so I'd be interested to hear where on earth my ideas are flawed.
Feel free to be as harsh as you resembling if I sound a bit like a muppet. ;)
Answers:
I don't know as to where on earth in the world you are, but if you were surrounded by the UK which I know you are not by the terminology you use, you would have to slip away some assurance/insurance examinations before you could sell insurance.People surrounded by this Country cannot just go and go insurance since it is regulated by a governing body the FSA.
This has be brought about in decree to stop unsuspecting people being duped, and to construct sure that everything is above board.
You should do some research in your Country to make sure that you are acting correctly.
Jonny,
I can support what the previous poster says 'Welcome News' he is a very experienced broker, trading for copious years in the UK & has a glorious level of knowlege on these matters. The proposal he gives you is sound direction.
FSA regulations are a minefield & can be extremely complex. Those of us in the industry have have to adapt our businesses to meet requirements - for lots it has been a long strong process ( and these are people who have be in the business for many years). For this justification there is a certain foreboding that anyone wanting to start up from scratch must be extremely brave or certifiable.
If you are deadly serious you hold a lot of work ahead of you.
Again - being a 'broker' and have a purely online presence does not necessarily fit. Brokers usaully give advice as to suitable products - you cannot endow with advice if you are only offering a click- quote - buy product online
There is some discussion within the Insurance Trade press at the moment as to whether comparison websites should be regulated by the Financial Services Authority or not.
If you become an agent of an insurance carrier e.g. an agent of Fortis, then you will enjoy to be regulated by the Financial Services Authority or become an appointed representative of a company that is regulated by the FSA - this is certain.
the give somebody the third degree then becomes: If you are supplied access to insurance companies quotation systems and provide quotes base on information provided are you then a representative of the company, an agent of the company or something else?
I suggest you look at http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pages/Doing/Do/ind… which gives details as to whether you requirement to be authorised by the FSA for your business model and also suggest you contact the FSA and, if you can get any advice from them, they might insist on you further.
I am not stopping you from becoming an 'online insurance information provider' but 'broker' implies advice (unless you voice you are not and don't give any - which is tricky), it is just that you hold to be careful to ensure that you obey the current rules something like insurance regulation.
To give an example, I was considering providing a service to assist customers find local insurance brokers however that activity could be construed as assisting in the running of an insurance contract - and thus require separate regulation.
As a (regulated) insurance broker myself, I and many like me would be annoyed if someone near no experience or knowledge of insurance is allowed to sell policies through the internet lacking having to obey what I am sure you hold found out is a large body of rules via a loophole in the law.
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