Editor's comment: Broker rebellion?

Extinction Rebellion, recently took over London with its own camp at Marble Arch and, although hopefully Biba will feature less superglue and arrests, I can’t help but spot the similarities.

Extinction Rebellion stated that we are facing an unprecedented global emergency – the 2018 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report that we only have 12 years to stop catastrophic climate change – we have entered a period of abrupt climate breakdown and are in the midst of a mass extinction of our own making.

Similarly the death knell has been sounded for brokers many times in recent memory – high street branches are significantly fewer than they used to be, consolidation has continued unrelentingly and insurtechs threaten to rewrite the insurance offering. At the same time insurers are facing threats from original equipment manufacturers in the driverless car area and the likes of Google and Amazon circling the market. 

Extinction Rebellion aims to create a world that is fit for generations to come. The Biba conference theme is ‘Leading the way’ a topic it said reflects the state of change we are all operating under – the pace of technological advancement, changing customer needs and risks and evolving regulation and legislation.

Extinction Rebellion has three demands – act now, tell the truth and move beyond politics – with the reputation issues the whole sector is facing these wouldn’t be so bad for brokers and insurers to also reflect. While the Biba Manifesto has 30 calls to action and 26 commitments on topics ranging from regulation and innovation, to customer service and market practices. 

Extinction Rebellion undertook two weeks of mass civil disobedience, took over London, got celebrities on board and got lots of media coverage. Biba for its part is well known for its annual manifesto launch in Parliament, gets in front of MPs and has a voice in Europe through its sister organisation Bipar.

Some have argued that the ER campaign could be a tipping point for climate change and who knows where both climate change and broking will be in 12 years but as Bansky is believed to have etched at the end of the sit-in maybe “From this moment despair ends and tactics begin”.