In memorium

The passing of a broking champion

John Greenway MP spoke to PB about the life of IIB director general Andrew Paddick

The death of Andrew Paddick is a huge loss to the industry, said John Greenway MP, the Institute of Insurance Brokers' president and parliamentary adviser for over 20 years: "He had this passionate belief in professionalism and competency that guided everything he did. As a result there are higher standards right across the market than there would have been had he not be fighting for this."

Greenway said that Andrew's two greatest achievements were getting Broker Direct off the ground and seeing it establish itself as a profitable business as well as ensuring that the small broker's interests are now understood by all: "In particular, the regulators do realise that they have to sit down and listen to the concerns of small brokers and take them into account when framing regulations. There was a real danger 20 years ago that this wasn't going to happen."

He acknowledged that, like almost everybody, he had made the mistake of sometimes underestimating Andrew, no more so than when it was announced that the Insurance Brokers Registration Council was going to be abolished and all the independent directors resigned: "He came to me and said that he would run it from Higham Ferrers (the IIB office). I told him he must be mad and that it couldn't be done but he pulled it off and gave brokers a vital lifeline during the regulatory turmoil that followed."

Looking ahead, Greenway said that it is vital the distinctive concerns of the small broker are still represented forcefully but that, like Andrew, he had an open mind on how this might be done in a rapidly consolidating market: "If there could be one broker organisation that could speak for both the big brokers and the smaller firms that would be all for the good but we are some way from that. We need to maintain the strong voice for the smaller intermediary whether in one body or two or in a federation."

BIOGRAPHY

Andrew started his career in the late 1960s as a motor insurance underwriting clerk. He formed the IIB in 1987 which then became a recognised professional body and helped win many battles for brokers, the last a case against the Office of Fair Trading under competition law. Paddick, who would have been 59 this year, leaves behind wife Sheila and three grown-up children.

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