Professional Indemnity Insurance

Julia Cooper - AMI - 19th February 2009 - 16:49

PII may be an inevitable business cost for members, required as it is by the regulator, but nevertheless your trade body meets regularly with representatives of the PII market to discuss current issues and raise the concerns of members with the right ‘movers and shakers’.

Right now, it is not surprising that members have voiced concerns as to the potential for negative repercussions for intermediaries following the upturn in home repossessions, which is expected due to the current economic turmoil.  In particular, where a client’s circumstances have changed and as a result, they find themselves struggling to make the repayments on their mortgage.

The key message that emerged from AMI’s latest meeting with the PII market was the importance of ensuring and documenting that a mortgage was affordable at the time that advice was given to a client.  Consumers must, in their own interests, be fully open and honest with their broker in order that lenders can make their decisions in full knowledge of a client’s circumstances.  It is not unknown for a lender to come back and argue that they would never have lent money had an intermediary given them more information and so members owe it to themselves, as well as your clients, to be as probing as possible in the fact-finding and recommending processes.

It was also made clear to AMI that mortgage brokers are willing and able to shop around and make comparisons, seeing what different providers offer on their policies and this is sensible behaviour.  We believe that our forum-style meetings with representatives of the PII market is of value to members as it ensures that your voice is heard regularly by the right decision makers and influencers and it also means that you are kept up to date with PII news or developments that are pertinent to our sector.