The British Insurance Brokers' Association (BIBA) is the U.K.'s leading general insurance intermediary organization representing the interests of insurance brokers, intermediaries and their customers. Earlier this month, the association hosted The BIBA Conference 2022, which attracted over 8,000 attendees and is considered the largest broker event in the world.
Bob Rusbuldt, Big “I" president & CEO, and Jon Jensen, president & CEO of Correll Insurance Group and former Big “I" chairman, were invited to this year's event, where three years ago, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced his decision to run for Conservative Party leadership.
The theme of this year's conference was “our insurance community," offering businesses, friends and colleagues the opportunity to reunite, share new ideas and make new contacts. Speakers included Huw Edwards, a BBC News presenter; Olympic gold medalists Dame Laura Kenny (cycling), Nicola Adams (boxing) and Jonnie Peacock (100m); and Andrew Marr, journalist and novelist.
“The event was immense," said Bob Rusbuldt, Big “I" CEO and president. “We met with BIBA broker leaders and staff leaders, which was a great two-way learning opportunity. They clearly do some innovative things that we will look to copy—and vice versa." Rusbuldt admiringly refers to BIBA as the “Big 'I' of Britain" because of the “similarities of our members and our associations. We are true sister associations."
The exhibit hall featured over 200 exhibitors, including every carrier that does business in the UK, such as Travelers, AIG, Zurich, CNA, Swiss Re, Liberty Mutual and more. Rusbuldt (pictured middle left) and Jensen (pictured middle right) met with numerous company executives, including Matthew Wilson, CEO of Travelers in Europe (pictured far left), and Mike Lawton, the executive vice president of commercial lines in the U.K. (pictured far right). Rusbuldt was also interviewed by several media outlets during the conference and took part in a video interview with BIBA.
BIBA membership includes around 1,800 regulated firms, employing more than 100,000 people. General insurance brokers contribute 1% of GDP to the U.K. economy; they arrange 72% of all general insurance with a premium totaling £74 billion and 92% of all commercial insurance business.