Brexit, economy brokers’ top concerns: Aviva

UK broker businesses are growing increasingly concerned about Brexit uncertainty and the economic climate – but won’t let this affect their plans for growth, according to Aviva’s latest Broker Barometer survey.

Significantly fewer brokers feel the economic climate is having a positive impact than six months previously, according to new research by Aviva. Despite this, almost half of broker owners are planning to expand over the next 12 months.

Compliance/regulation remains the top headache – with Brexit the second greatest concern (for over one in five brokers). Brokers are increasingly thinking about the future – over half of business owners now have a succession plan in place. Market or product diversification is seen as the greatest opportunity, followed by cyber insurance.

Almost half (48 percent) of broker owners said they were planning to expand their business in 2019, despite only seven percent thinking the economic climate is having a positive effect (down 13 percent since May 2018). Perhaps because of the current political and economic uncertainty, significantly more brokers are taking steps to secure the future of their business. The number of broker owners who have some kind of succession plan in place has more than doubled (from 25-56 percent).

Phil Bayles, Aviva’s managing director, Intermediaries said the findings were encouraging for the future of independent brokerages – and showed that most were feeling positive despite the challenging business environment.

Not surprisingly, price remains by far the most common question clients asked their broker in the past 12 months, followed by quality of cover and the need for cyber insurance.