It was strange being at the Institute of Insurance Brokers' final Parliamentary Reception this lunchtime, not least because a few people reminded me that I was at their first such event which was way back in 1988. It was also clear that many people were there almost 'signing off' from their long association with the broker trade bodies, not least IIB president John Greenway, former chairman Graham Gomm and other other IIB luminaries such as Mike Slack.

But it was also a forward looking occasion, carefully stage-managed by Barbara Bradshaw and Eric Galbraith to demonstrate the that IIB's merger with the British Insurance Brokers Association has strengthened the broker voice in government and Parliamentary circles, underlined by the presence of Treasury minister Mark Hoban. Both spoke powerfully of the challenges facing the broker market and how important the relationship with policymakers and politicians has been and will continue to be in the future.

This was echoed by the chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Insurance & Financial Services, Jonathan Evans, who highlighted the work done by the group with the broker trade bodies to shift opinion on the need for a review of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme as an example of what unified, consistent and coherent lobbying can achieve.

Of course, the broker trade bodies are not quite united as there is still some fragmentation in the London Market but in terms of the issues that matter to MPs and Parliament - largely the issues that affect their constituents - there is now a single voice and they will welcome that. 

The debate over the future of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme took another step forward last night - at least from the intermediary perspective - when Jonathan Evans, Conservative MP for Cardiff North - presented a 7000 signature petition to Parliament.

The petition was organised by the British Insurance Brokers' Association and calls on the Financial Services Authority to get on with the delayed review of the FSCS and to take note of the excessive burdens currently falling on smaller brokers. It repeats the familiar call for them to be separated from other classes of firms the scheme currently throws them in with. Mr Evans is also chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Insurance & Financial Services and will this afternoon be chairing a meeting of that group when it will hear from Sheila Nicoll, the FSA's Director of Conduct Policy on The Future and Funding of the FSCS.

While I applaud the effective campaign that BIBA has run on this topic, I am left wondering why there hasn't been more common cause made with the independent financial advisers who have exactly the same issues with the FSCS as insurance brokers? We know from the debates in the Commons on the Retail Distribution Review just before Christmas that small IFAs are a powerful lobby and have alot of supporters, especially among newer MPs. A joint petition would have the potential to make an even greater impact, not merely because it would have garnered even more signatures but because it would have shown common cause across different parts of the market diluting the inevitable accusations of special pleading by one sector.

There remains, of course, plenty of time and scope for linking up with IFAs and taking the campaign up another notch but perhaps we should see what the FSA has to say this afternoon first.

The programme of meetings of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Insurance & Financial Services for the rest of the current session shows that the future role and funding of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme remains a major issue.

The group has heard from a range of industry groups, especially those representing the intermediary sector and from the FSCS itself. Next it will be the turn of the Financial Services Authority which has oversight of the FSCS and will set the terms for the delayed review. Next month the group will return to hearing from some of the intermediary organisations to see if the political pressure they have applied is bearing any fruit.

In between those two meetings is a joint meeting on the crucial issue of housing finance, especially focusing on some of the problems - and potential solutions - that first time buyers face. This will be a joint meeting with two other All Party Groups, those on Urban Development and Housing.

Full details ProgSummer11.pdf

The dramatic announcement at the opening of this week's British Insurance Brokers' Association conference in Manchester that it will be merging with the Institute of Insurance Brokers brings to an end almost 25 years of division in the representation of insurance brokers.