The MFAA is rejoicing for its members after receiving confirmation that the proposed legislative changes to professional indemnity (PI) insurance will not affect brokers.
Last week, the MFAA called on its members, as well as FBAA members, to support its lobbying efforts to stop the proposed changes put forward by the Australian Registrars’ National Electronic Conveyancing Council (ARNECC), which it said would threaten broker business costs.
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“What is being proposed by ARNECC is an increase of professional indemnity insurance to $20 million in the aggregate from a current figure of $2 million per claim and up to $6 million in the aggregate,” MFAA chief executive Siobhan Hayden said at the time.
“The industry standard of $2 million in the aggregate is demonstrably sufficient.
“This proposed requirement has no basis in fact as it does not reflect any existing claims and flies in the face of the requirements our industry regulator ASIC expects.”
However, after a meeting with ARNECC last week, Ms Hayden said the MFAA received confirmation in writing from the council’s deputy chairman that its proposed changes to PI insurance do not apply to brokers.
“This is a real win for the profession and we will share that letter with the broker industry once received so that you can keep this on file should it be necessary,” she said.
Ms Hayden said she was very impressed by the actions of MFAA members who communicated their desire to support this action with letters to elected representatives as well as ARNECC.
“They took on the task of delivering an industry-wide voice through direct action, and it had an impact, as the deputy chairman made contact with our lobbyist [and] agreed to sit down and hear our case for greater involvement,” she said.
[Related: MFAA launches new broker traineeship]