The Insurance Brokers Code of Practice is an agreement between the National Insurance Brokers Association (NIBA), its members and other brokers who subscribe to the code.
It sets out the minimum service standards that clients can expect from brokers and outlines how complaints and disputes regarding potential breaches of the code can be resolved.
The online course was created to explain the details of the code and give brokers a greater understanding of how its standards apply to Australian businesses.
Real-life examples
Content for the course was drawn from real-life breach examples to ensure its relevance to a broker’s day-to-day work.
Explanations of the service standards in the code are followed by short case studies to increase understanding.
On completion, brokers will understand the code’s objectives, how it applies to clients, complaints handling and dispute resolution, and how the code is monitored and enforced.
Lifting the broking profession
Launched by the Australian and New Zealand Institute of Insurance and Finance (ANZIIF), the course was developed in partnership with the Insurance Brokers Code Compliance Committee (IBCCC).
“The skills required to report breaches and manage compliance with the code are essential to providing excellent customer service and lifting the broking profession in the eyes of the public,” said ANZIIF chief executive Prue Willsford.
“The code aims to increase consumer confidence in brokers and to build the professional competence in the broking profession.
“Our research tells us that brokers are concerned with how the public perceives them, particularly when the vast majority are committed to the principles of the code: high standards of customer service and a free and transparent complaints and compliance process.
“By adhering to the code, and completing training to assure clients of a broker’s qualifications and commitment to customer service, brokers will come a long way in changing any unfavourable perceptions in the public,” Willsford said.
Essential training
ANZIIF is offering the course free of charge to all current and future ANZIIF members from Allied to Fellow as it considers training around compliance to the code to be essential for the broking industry.
Non-members can enrol in the course for A$145 (£88, $111, €104).
Parliament approval
The training course comes the same week that the Australian senate passed the Corporations Amendment (Professional Standards of Financial Advisers) Bill 2016, which includes compulsory education requirements for both new and existing financial advisers, supervision requirements for new advisers, and a code of ethics for the industry.
