Brokers divided on insurance opportunity

The survey also found that 42.4 per cent of respondents were regularly or very often asked for insurance products by their clients.

Another 48.7 per cent said they were not asked very often, while 8.9 per cent said they were never asked.

Mortgage Box owner Will Rademeyers said the Brisbane firm decided to add insurance, via external providers, five years ago.

Mr Rademeyers told The Adviser that the motivation was not so much to create a new revenue stream but rather to make sure that clients were being properly protected.

“Whenever we speak to a client, their debt position is due to change and we feel that it’s a responsibility of ours to make sure that that new exposure is addressed,” he said.

Mr Rademeyers said adding insurance had made clients more loyal and more likely to use Mortgage Box as a “point of reference” for major financial decisions.

Meanwhile, Simplified Finance does not offer insurance because the company feels it can best serve clients by sticking to finance, according to owner Dallas Shores.

Mr Shores said he preferred his clients to go directly to insurance specialists rather than for him to provide them with ‘tick-and-flick’ insurance products.

Property Prosperity director Darren Standish said he had avoided insurance because he was already too busy with other offerings, such as real estate services, property development consulting and site assessments.

However, he told The Adviser that he may one day diversify into insurance.

“I would offer it as a service, not necessarily an option to make money. For clients, it would be one less person for them to deal with,” he said.

The Adviser‘s next issue, due out in mid-May, will publish the full results of the insurance survey and reveal the secrets of brokers who successfully cross sell insurance.