Excitement builds as the FIA Gala Awards ceremony draws near
Later this evening (27 May 2008) the Financial Intermediaries Association (FIA) will hold the ninth annual FIA Gala Awards Dinner to recognise South Africa’s top insurance product providers. Previous events were run under the South African Financial Services Intermediaries Association (SAFSIA) banner; but the organisation has since merged with the Independent Brokers Council (IBC) to form the FIA. The merger outfit is the dominant representative body for financial services intermediaries in South Africa.
Billed as one of the biggest annual insurance industry events the annual FIA Gala Awards ceremony is the culmination of an exhaustive independent selection process. The rigorous criteria ensure that the winners represent the collective opinion of the people that really make the financial services industry tick – the financial intermediaries who market and sell insurance, investment and medical aid products.
The focus is on overall product provider excellence
The FIA awards are presented in three financial services areas. In the short-term industry an award goes to the best corporate, personal lines and commercial product provider. In the life & risk category awards go to the best life insurance and investment product providers. And in the medical aid category an award goes to the best medical aid product provider. Last year’s short-term insurance awards went to Mutual & Federal (for personal lines and corporate) and Hollard Insurance (for commercial). Discovery Life received the life insurance award and Momentum scooped the investment product category. The medical aid provider is a new category for 2008.
Competition results are based on the outcome of an extensive industry-wide survey conducted among FIA members. The latest survey was conducted by Bluestream Consulting which has now been associated with the event for three years running. Pieter Aucamp, chief executive of Bluestream says that the main purpose of the survey is to independently “nominate the top performing product providers” rated on their abilities to service brokers.
FAnews Online likes the comprehensive format the survey takes. Aucamp notes that telephonic interviews (average duration 12.5 minutes) were completed with 1 250 FIA members. These independent insurance brokers were sampled at random and asked to comment on “the service, product, relationship quality and overall satisfaction” with their product providers. Bluestream is at pains to ensure that the annual awards reflect the perceptions, views, expectations, awareness levels and opinions of the FIA members surveyed.
Final selection includes a strong review process
The quality of the survey process is guaranteed by further oversight functions. A peer review process is conducted by a team of independent research and statistics doctorates before the FIA research committee casts a final eye over the results. And there have been some welcome spin-offs from the competition. By applying consistent survey techniques over the past three years, Bluestream has been able to compile a useful insurance benchmark. This benchmark will be known as the FIA Bluestream Intermediary/Broker Satisfaction Benchmark or Industry index and will serve as an industry standard for product providers where intermediary satisfaction is concerned.
As product providers in the financial services industry adopt this benchmark as the industry standard the levels of service offered to the broker community should continue to improve.
Editor’s thoughts:
Tonight’s FIA Awards Dinner promises to live up to expectations. We hope many of our readers will be present to congratulate the winners in various categories. Do you think the FIA competition to acknowledge product providers contributes to improved standard industry-wide? Add your comments below, or send them to [email protected]
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