Am I alone in not really liking Brother Burnham?  Self-serving, supercilious, sanctimonious showboating.  They should bin him and make Marcus Rashford mayor.

If we all stick to the story…

I am having a number of discussions with company market insurers around the scope of IDD and when a risk has to be placed by an EU authorised intermediary and when it doesn’t.  As you know, since the publication of EIOPA’s recommendations in February last year, we have been clear that it is only when both the policyholder and the risk are located in EU that you are deemed to be providing a distribution service in EU if you work on that contract – regardless of where you sit in any distribution chain.

This means that an EU risk for a non-EU policyholder can be placed by a UK broker that is not authorised in EU – albeit that it must be placed with a suitably licensed insurer (more on this in a moment).  And a non-EU risk for an EU policyholder could also be placed by a non-EU authorised broker (subject to the same licensed insurer caveat).

The confusion for our insurer brethren is that this is a different approach to setting the scope of a directive than Solvency II has.  That says that the only thing that matters in determining whether you need to be EU licensed is the location of the risk.  If in EU then yes, if not, no.  Some therefore try and question why a UK broker is bringing them a placement where the risk is in EU but the policyholder is, say, a UK client.  It is, of course, because you can.

This is all set out in more detail in the guide we produced in January (attached).  I will continue to work with IUA to educate their members but I think it is worth ensuring that we all continue to put forward the same message to our insurer friends and partners.  And do let me know if you have come across any issues.

Zoom etiquette, not zoo etiquette

At LIIBA we are acutely conscious that lockdown and the extended period working from home has brought some new technical challenges for many of you.  Chief amongst these is the need to master the use of the various video conferencing platforms.  But these do have their advantages in that, whereas previously long, boring and irrelevant market meetings were just something to endure with only the occasional light relief of checking the cricket score on your phone, now you have more options.  The ability to be seen but not heard, or heard but not seen, or neither seen nor heard means you can survive these endless tedious get togethers more productively.  By, you know, doing something else.  But this can be an etiquette minefield if you do not have full control of the technology before you.  So here is a simple checklist – applicable across all major platforms.

  1. If you click on the thing that looks a bit like a camera until there is a line through it, no one will be able to see what you are up to but they will be able to hear.  Feel free now to read the paper or browse the internet.
  2. If you click on the thing that looks like the sort of microphone bands used on Top of the Pops in the 80s because they just did not care that you knew they were miming until there is a line through it then people will not be able to hear you but will be able to see what you are up to.  The preferred option for practicing your ventriloquy – because if someone says “you are on mute” then you know you still have work to do.  Instant feedback, but do remember to keep the puppet out of shot.
  3. It is only if you click on both the camera and the microphone thingy and check rigorously that they are very clearly both slashed through by that line that you should think of emulating Jeffrey Toobin.  And really then you should take a long, hard (unfortunate turn of phrase I know) look at yourself and think again.

LIIBA – always here to protect our members.  Especially from themselves.

Surveylance

Which seems an appropriate moment to mention that Friday is the closing date to complete this year’s Lloyd’s culture survey which you can access here.  At the time of writing, the numbers of completed surveys is disappointing – being very similar to last year.  I would urge you all to take the time to fill this in.  It is important that the results provide an accurate reflection of our market – particularly as this is a priority theme for FCA.  And you are getting this email a day early which means the several hours you set aside to glory at its genius each Friday will now be free.

The Jackie Hobbs relevance review returns

In which the fun sponge that is our revered Ms Hobbs insists that this column should occasionally cover issues related to insurance.  This week.

  1. Bulking Lineslips: We are working with LIC SA, Lloyd’s and LIMOSS on a number of operational challenges relating to bulking lineslips, where renewals fall due 1st January onwards (following Lloyd’s Bulletin Y5287, released in April.) Updates will be provided shortly.  Can I just say that Bulking Lineslips sounds like a character that would not be out of place in the story about the parrot below.
  2. DA Programme. LIIBA has organised a seminar with Lloyd’s on 17th November that we would encourage as many people as possible to attend if they work with binders. Registration details to be released shortly.
  3. Following the recent issuance of clause JR2020-026 regarding the recovery of IPT from clients if HMRC retrospectively deems it to be payable, the LMA has received feedback from a number of brokers and has confirmed an alternative clause will be issued shortly. (nb This may have come out by the time the chronicles are issued – ha! She thought she could catch me out and I would not see this bit needed to be deleted.  Oh…)

And the Morales of the story is…

Let us return to the world of election fraud so beloved of my friend Joel Wood at CIAB after previous musings introduced him to the glory that is the story of the career of Hastings Banda.  But the genre has seen a new twist with events in Bolivia over the weekend.  Just to recap for new readers, previously on Bolivian elections we saw Evo Morales ousted from power for an attempt to rig the count following the vote last October.  In Bolivia you need to either secure 50% of the vote or finish 10% ahead of your nearest rival to avoid a run-off (that Evo was likely to lose).  Evo, seeing that he was on 47% and his main opponent, Carlos Mesa, on 39%, crashed the official results website.  And when it came back up a day later it was showing he had 49.1%.  Cue much wailing and gnashing of teeth before Evo did one to Mexico to hang out with his mate AMLO.

Fast forward to this weekend and Luis Arce Catacora – Morales’s handpicked successor as candidate for Movemiento Al Socialismo – appears to have won about 52% of the vote and is 20% ahead of Mesa.  Of course no one seems to have actually counted any votes to establish this, but all opponents have given up so it is de facto true.

So an astonishing new achievement in the tyranny game.  Whereas Morales failed to convince anyone that he had met either criteria to avoid a run off in an election he fabricated, he has just managed to meet both criteria in an election he had no control over.  Perhaps the public can be trusted after all…

Still, bad news for any of you who were hoping to exploit the insurance possibilities in Bolivia’s burgeoning lithium industry as the Aymaran Hugo Chavez returns to the scene.

The Hokey Govey

In, out etc.  As of writing the free trade agreement negotiations with EU are back on again with Micky Barnier and his collective due back in London later this week.  This has many grave consequences, not the least of which is that I will now be attending Sevenoaks Town vs Ashford United on my own as my mate Dan is part of the negotiating team.  Which is a worry because the Jurgen Klopp of North East Kent – Micky Collins – was poached by the Oaks from Ashford and last year they sent a sizeable away contingent to stand on the hill over looking the legendary Bourne Stadium and sing such things as “with a bag of sweets and a cheeky smile, Collins is [I’ll leave you to decide your own ending to this one]”.  And it all kicked off at the end.  So I was hoping to have someone who I could use as a human shield.

Anyway, this is the next chapter in the inevitable story of Bozzer’s capitulation to EU.  Slightly complicated by the fact that the King of Barnard Castle definitely is angling for no deal, but this is offset by the fact that Govey Govey Govey is in charge of no deal planning and knows what it would be like.  And we can observe this macabre charade safe in the knowledge that it will make no difference at all to us (although it might to lots of your clients which is a subtlety we should no overlook).

Whatever the outcome of the negotiations, word on the street is not to expect a Solvency II equivalence determination this year.  Whilst this is again only of passing relevance – although would be a good thing for our insurer friends and partners – I suspect we can read across that data adequacy recognition is also unlikely.  And the January guide attached has links to all the useful information from ICO on what you need to do to prepare for that eventuality.

Shuffled off its mortal coil

So much to fascinate in this otherwise sad tale of the devastation being brought to the male stripping industry by Covid-19.  Firstly the interesting distinction that Romeo makes between going round people’s houses and stripping (not right and his “mrs” wouldn’t like it) and calling a girl up on stage so he can strip in front of her (perfectly fine, apparently.  In fact what he misses the most).  Really? that different?

Then there is the fate of his pet parrot.  Down on his luck and wondering where his next meal was coming from Romeo chose to sell the parrot.  Now, I am no expert on the second hand avian market, but I am guessing he did not get much for it.  So why did he not just cut out the middle man and eat the parrot?  I am sure it would have cooked up lovely and there may have been leftovers for lunch the next day.  Indeed, the aforementioned Joel Wood (who has got an unprecedented two references today) part owns a southern barbecue restaurant in his spare time.  I am sure he could have provided Romeo with one or two suggested recipes for deep fried squirrel that would have transferred well as a base idea of how to approach the meal.

And finally there is confirmation that Covid-19 has completed its mission to turn the world upside down.  For here is a man forced to fall back on plumbing because his stripping work has dried up.  Case closed.

That’s it.  I’m off to negotiate a pay rise with Andy Burnham.  Apparently there is £60m on the table he is not interested in.

 

Y5287 Lloyds Brussels Changes to bulking lineslip processingLIIBA Brexit update 2020 formatted