Irish Brokers Association General Conference 2016

The IBA’s Annual General Conference took place on Thursday 17th November in the Cusack Suite, Croke Park, Dublin. The title of this year’s conference was ‘The Evolving Insurance Environment’, which was attended by over 170 delegates and to date, feedback from participants has been excellent.
The day got underway with two breakfast CPD lectures. The first topic of ‘Central Bank Guidance on IT and Cyber’ outlined Central Bank’s recommendations for managing IT and CyberSecurity Risks and was presented by Breeda Cunningham from Dillon Eustace followed by Sean Coleman from Coleman Risk Consulting who presented on Business Continuity Planning and highlighted a Broker Case Study to delegates. Both presentations provided engaging and thought provoking content which were well received by delegates. The conference started at 9.45 am and was opened by IBA President, Aidan McLoughlin.
This year’s conference was kindly supported by Willis Towers Watson and the Association was delighted to invite Celine Greene, Director, Head of Broker Services to say a few words. Ciaran Phelan, CEO of IBA and MC for the event called on Eoghan Murphy, Minister of State for Financial Services, eGovernment and Public Procurement to make an opening address. The first Conference presentation was delivered by Sylvia Cronin, Director of Insurance Supervision, Central Bank whose presentation ‘The Evolving Insurance Environment’ covered Central Bank’s work on: Solvency II, EIOPA and Governance. Sylvia also discussed Cyber Risk and the impact of Brexit and its potential. The importance of Culture and its positive outcomes were also raised. Sylvia’s presentation was followed by Conor O’Brien, CEO of Injuries Board who outlined what PIAB do and what they don’t do. Conor discussed the process, current issues and the updated Book of Quantum. Delegates then welcomed Ken Norgrove, CEO RSA and President of Insurance Ireland who discussed the economic landscape, the General Insurance market and excessive claims inflation. Ken also called for the need to look at the Injuries Board and its current issues. Current challenges for Brokers such as Price Differentiator, Efficiency of Business Model and Digital were discussed. The penultimate presentation of the morning was delivered by David Barniville, Senior Counsel, Immediate Past Chairman who gave detailed presentation claims and the size of the awards. Also discussed was the Setanta Case and the Book of Quantum. David concluded his presentation with some observations and recommendations which provoked some interesting discussion amongst delegates. The final presentation was delivered by Caeva O’Callaghan, Director of O‘Callaghan Insurances. Caeva perfectly highlighted the key issues faced by Brokers namely: Lack of Capacity, the Hub/IIDS and Differential Pricing.

IBA General Conference 2016 Panel and Speakers

Following a brief break the audience returned for a live panel discussion which was chaired by Chris Donoghue, Newstalk who was assisted by a panel comprising of:

Ken Norgrove – President of Insurance Ireland and CEO of RSA
David Barniville – Senior Counsel-Immediate Past President
Caeva O’Callaghan – Managing Director, O’Callaghan Insurances
John Kennedy – Managing Director KennCo Underwriting Ltd

This panel discussion was relevant, engaging, lively and very interactive with many arguments for and against the items under discussion which included the following topics:

Future for Personal Lines Brokers
IIDS Claims Information: Total Market Solution
Book of Quantum/Claims Culture
Capacity or Pricing issues?
Relevance of Brokers today

The Association would like to give a huge thank you to all our speakers for the event, our panelists and Chair Mr. Chris Donoghue.

IBA General Conference 2016 Exhibitors

The event could not have gone ahead so successfully without the financial support and contribution of our sponsors for this event. The Irish Brokers Association would like to sincerely thank the following firms for their continued support of the Association and its members. The time and effort that they placed in their stands on the day was brilliant to see and was complimented by so many of our broker members who attended.

Autoglass – Thanks to Donal Lawlor, Billy McGregor, Caroline Mongey and Ed Henshaw
Brightwater – Thanks to Eileen Moloney and her team
DAS – Thanks to Patrick Redmond, Catherine Stacey and Gary Ferguson
Insurance Institute – Thanks to Paula Hodson, Naomi Gaffney, Sandra Harvey Graham and Berenice Grimley
Netforce – Thanks to Grace McCauley and Darren Lawlor
Open GI -Thanks to Robert Fitzsimons, Philip Shore, Sandra Williams, Simon Hughes and Helen Barker.
OSG – Thanks to Dick Hartnett, Malcolm Hughes, Gillian Morgan, Sonia Kelly and John McGee
Premium Credit -Thanks to Ger Shannon, Michael Fitzgerald, Noelle Agar and Susan White
Robertson Low – Thanks to Andrew Low, Mark Whelan, Denise Behan, John Barry and Nicola Shaw
SureSkills – Thanks to Mark Feldman, Patrick Costello, Stuart Mahon, Ruaidhrí McSharry and from Dell Tara Gale.
ShoreTel – Thanks to Barry Dillon
Willis Towers Watson – Thanks to Brian Curtis, Celine Greene, Mark Weldrick, Margaret Keogh and Aileen Kavanagh
Workair – Thanks to Bill Kenny and Stephen Mackarel