The British Insurance Brokers’ Association (BIBA) and Worldwide Broker Network (WBN) have agreed on a new arrangement to help members with their clients post Brexit.

The parties have signed an agreement which will allow BIBA’s UK-based brokers to be introduced to one of WBN's member firms in an EU state, thereby allowing continuity for BIBA members’ EU clients after Brexit.

BIBA said WBN has at least one member operating in each European Union country, which are all subject to checks on their regulatory status.

Established in 1989, WBN generates more than $5bn in property and casualty and employee benefits revenue per year.

WBN co-founder and board member Alec Finch said: “We were delighted to work with BIBA on this matter. We are still unaware of what provisions may be in place for cross-border trading and this arrangement makes perfect sense for UK based brokers.

“Importantly once the introduction is made the two broking firms will have complete control of their relationship and terms of business which means they can agree a collaboration that fits the clients’ needs.”

BIBA represents the interests of insurance brokers, intermediaries and their customers. Its membership includes just under 2,000 regulated companies, employing over 100,000 staff.  

BIBA executive director Graeme Trudgill said: “In our survey of members last year we asked what concerns they had about the UK’s impending exit from the EU. One of the most common and worrying was the issue around continuing to help EU clients with renewals, claims handling and placement post Brexit.

“As soon as we had the results of the survey we began looking for a solution and working with WBN is the obvious choice.”

BIBA said Brexit raises several issues that may severely affect insurance brokers and their customers.

2,758 UK insurance brokers had passports to trade in the EU as of August 2016 and 5,727 EU intermediaries held permissions to passport into the UK, according to BIBA.

Image: BIBA and WBN agree on post Brexit client support in EU. Photo: Courtesy of The British Insurance Brokers’ Association.