Last week IBAO CEO Colin Simpson and COO Brett Boadway held a conference call with Principal Brokers to discuss the topic of forming a position on the current issues facing the treatment and use of consumer data that emanates from the broker network.
Recently there’ve been concerns raised regarding evolving industry practices and policies on the topic and how these may positively or negatively impact consumer interests and the consumer value proposition of the collective participants in our industry.
“This is an industry-wide challenge and with the broker being the owner of the consumer relationship, this issue is near and dear to brokers’ hearts and requires detailed analysis,” said Colin. “In order to protect consumer interests there needs to be consistency in understanding in this evolving market on how key consumer data will be controlled and used by each party to a transaction.”
When polled, 95% of attendees of the call said that they felt this was an issue that we should be leading and that the time to do so is now. With that clear direction from Principal Brokers, we’ll create a plan to engage with insurance companies and technology vendors in the marketplace to look for a clarification and hopefully consensus on the subject. Because this is potentially a national issue, we’ll also work in conjunction with our sister associations.
