Association of Brokers seeks higher profile
The Thai Insurance Brokers Associa-tion plans to launch an aggressive campaign to attract more members and to promote itself to the public.
Although there are now more than 700 insurance brokerage firms, only 65 have applied for membership in the association.
Paanwat Kuramatiraj, president of the association, said he wanted to increase membership to 150 companies within two years. “Boosting the number of members is essential for communicating to other agencies and to the public what we are doing.”
The association was established 42 years ago, but few people know of it, due to the low number of members, he said.
He said the association would set up three committees to focus on supporting brokerage businesses; research and development; and dispute resolution.
The dispute-resolution body’s task is to solve problems between insurance firms and brokers.
Insurers have expanded their businesses rapidly, seizing market share from brokers, leading to an increasing number of conflicts, mostly involving insurance firms’ use of direct marketing, which brokers say puts them at a competitive disadvantage.
“The association must solve the disputes between brokers and insurance firms,” he said.
The committees will also meet with executives of each broker nationwide and invite them to become members. The association will also increase activities to educate members about the insurance business.
“Most brokers lack knowledge. Learning more about the business is a must to improving their capabilities as advisers in the near future, in line with the insurance industry development plan,” Paanwat said.
