According to Buzoianu, apart from negotiating contracts and offering consulting services to their clients, insurance brokers must also protect policyholders’ interests.
The CSA board is looking into amending norms on settling contestations so that, whenever they have problems regarding the contract, policyholders will first address the broker that negotiated the deal, said Buzoianu.
He pointed out that most complaints are filed on the car insurance segment, especially concerning mandatory car insurance (RCA) policies.
According to CSA, revenues registered by insurance brokers from brokerage operations amounted to 596.5 million lei (EUR136.3 million) in 2011, up 11.3% compared to the previous year.
The general and life insurance market shrank 4.3% last year to RON7.95 billion, while the share of brokered premiums in the total gross underwritten premiums increased progressively from 30% in 2008 to 38.53% in 2011, said Buzoianu.
There are over 500 authorized insurance brokers in Romania. (EUR1=RON4.3754)