The FPA is in talks with a number of overseas professional indemnity (PI) insurers for its ProPI service, according to FPA deputy chief executive Deen Sanders.
The association had continued to receive strong interest from overseas insurers who were considering writing new PI business for Australian financial planners, Sanders said.
“Obviously many overseas companies were caught up in the global financial crisis (GFC), so certainly what occurred during 2009 was that many insurance providers sat down and gave very careful consideration to the risk they wanted to take on in their business,” he said.
“Many of them were looking internally at how they improved their business models and adjusted their business metrics to make sure they take on the right risk.
“So last year we had very strong interest from overseas providers very early on in the year, but then the GFC obviously made everybody shut their doors and think about their internal businesses.”
However, Sanders said he expected to see the interest from overseas underwriters pick up once again this year as those insurers continued to see Australia as a strong marketplace for professional financial planning.
“Last year was one of those years where everything got sidelined and nobody was buying new business,” he said.
“It was a tough environment and we expect that cycle to soften and adjust slightly this year, and we think members will be in a better position and a better range of choice will be available to them before the end of the year.”
The FPA is in discussions with insurers in Europe and the United Kingdom.
“They are the dominant sources of insurance for this particular marketplace and so we’ve got strong representations from both of those environments,” Sanders said.
As for domestic underwriters looking to enter the PI market this year, he said Australian players were always testing the waters and thinking about whether they should reopen some doors on particular issues.
The FPA has also experienced complete retention of the members using its ProPI service.
