Insurance Broker

An insurance broker also insurance agent sells, solicits or negotiates insurance for compensation. The three largest insurance brokers in the world, by revenue are Aon, Marsh & McLennan and Willis Group Holdings.

Purpose of Insurance Brokers
Brokers and agent are the retail side of insurance. Some insurers underwrite insurance only through brokers, who obtain raw data from layman customers and fill in the complex forms which insurers need in order to thoroughly assess the risk they are being asked to underwrite. Some jurisdictions have special rules about how policies must be printed, assembled and delivered to insured, and brokers are responsible for such compliance issues. Most importantly, insurance brokers assist prospective insureds with developing risk management strategies appropriate to their risk profiles. They work with insureds to find out what kinds of risks they regularly encounter, and educate insureds what policies are available for each type of risk. Often an insured may buy a regular policy plus endorsements or additional policies to fill in exclusions in the regular policy. Insurance brokers also may help insureds obtain multiple layers of excess or surplus lines policies from  different insurers over a primary policy and can work through scenarios for reducing premiums with deductibles or self-insured retentions. For huge risks (e.g. the "slip and fall") risk of a multinational retailer with hundreds of stores, a single  policy may not be available to cover the entire risk from the first dollar or euro of loss incurred. In the US, if an insurance broker helps insureds obtain multiple layers of excess or surplus line policies, then the insurance broker also must   be licensed as an excess or surplus lines broker.

Insurance Broker In The UK
Insurance broker became a regulated term  under the Insurance Brokers (Registration) Act 1977 which was designed to thwart the practices of firms holding themselves as brokers but in fact acting as representative of one or more favored insurance companies. The term now has no legal definition following the repeal of the 1977 Act. The sale of general insurance has been regulated by the Financial Services Authority since 14 January 2005. Any person or firm authorized by the Financial Supervises Authority can now call  themselves an insurance broker. Insurance brokerage is largely associated with general insurance (car, house, etc) rather than life insurance, although  some brokers continued to provide investment and life insurance brokerage until the onset of the more onerous Financial Services Authority regulation in 2001. This drove a more transparent regime based predominantly on up front negotiation of a fee for the provision of advise and or services. This saw the splitting of intermediaries into two groups : general insurance intermediaries  or brokers and Independent Financial Advisers (IFAs) for life insurance, investments and pensions. General insurance brokering is carried out today by many types of authorized organizations including traditional high street brokers and telephone or web-based firms. A Lloyd's broker is a firm of brokers that has been approved by Lloyd's of London and having met certain minimum standards, is able to place business directly with Lloyd's underwriters.

Insurance Broker In India
Insurance broker became a regulated term under the Insurance Brokers (Registration) Act 1977 which addressed the practices of firms holding themselves as brokers but in fact acting as representative of one of more favored insurance companies. The term now has no legs definition following the repeal of the 1977 Act. The sale of general insurance has been regulated by the Financial Services Authority since 14 January 2005. Any person or firm authorized by the Financial Services Authority can now call themselves an insurance broker. www.wikipedia.org