THE BROKER IS BACK

Johannesburg, South Africa (12 July 2011) - Intermediaries in the short-term insurance market have been under severe pressure for the past few years. The rise of the direct insurer model and the ongoing regulatory pressures placed on insurance brokers has seen the number of active intermediaries in the market decrease significantly. The popular opinion is that insurance brokers increase the cost of premiums payable by the consumer due to the commission that the broker receives from insurance companies. This opinion is mainly marketing hype, maintains Simon Hebron, CEO of BetterSure.

He goes on further to say that insurance brokers have an important role to play in the consumers’ decision making process when buying motor and household insurance due to the sheer number of insurance companies that are marketing short-term insurance products.
Whilst consumers are spoilt for choice it takes some time for them to obtain comparable quotes and to make a final decision on which insurance company they will use. Consumers are often forced into making decisions by clever call centre agents without fully understanding the cover that they have just bought.
“If insurance brokers are to reposition themselves in the current market then they need the necessary tools to enable them to give their clients a number of comparative quotes required to make an informed decision” says Eldrid Jordaan, Managing Director of the newly formed venture BetterQuote. Eldrid further explains that BetterQuote will market a comparative quoting tool, which is supported by Innovation Maven, to the insurance broking industry. “This tool will give the broker on-line access to a number of quotes from some of South Africa’s leading independent insurance companies. Clients will no longer have to make a number of enquiries to get comparative quotes. They can simply contact their broker who will in turn generate the quotes for consideration” adds Jordaan.
BetterQuote is a joint venture between BetterSure, Blue Label Data Solutions and Eldrid Jordaan. BetterSure is wholly owned subsidiary of the BetterGroup who also owns the largest mortgage originator in South Africa, BetterBond. Rudi Botha, the CEO of the BetterGroup is excited about this new venture. “Our experience in mortgage origination and aggregation places us in an ideal position to get involved in the insurance aggregation industry” he goes on to say.
The Executive Chairman of Blue Label Data Solutions, a subsidiary of Blue Label Telecoms, Larry Pogir has been working with Eldrid for some time to get this venture off the ground. “I have no doubt that BetterQuote will become a leader in the insurance aggregation industry through its support of insurance brokers across South Africa. At Blue Label Telecoms we always pride ourselves of partnering with market leaders and that’s why partnering with BetterGroup was natural choice for us”, concludes Pogir.
Both Simon and Eldrid agree that the broker is certainly back.
# # # E N D # # #
For further information please contact :
· Eldrid Jordaan – Managing Director of BetterQuote – eldrid.jordaan@betterquote.co.za
· Simon Hebron – CEO of BetterSure and Executive Director of BetterQuote –
simon.hebron@bettersure.co.za
About BetterGroup
The BetterGroup, formerly known as PA Group Limited boasts a highly successful family of service organisations, all of which operate hand-in-hand to facilitate service offerings including mortgage origination and bonds, short term insurance, personal loans, bridging finance as well as alternative financing.
Apart from aspiring to be the leading service provider to the real estate industry, the group enjoys a number of partnerships with professionals in the industry, including the Property Association. The BetterGroup was formed in 1992 and its mission is to be the leading service provider to the real estate industry. This statement already bears testimony through the brilliantly successful service companies which fall under the BetterGroup.
As a result of their focus on providing a Better value proposition to its clients, a new refreshed Corporate Identity was introduced to convey a unified message of “Getting You Ahead”. www.bettergroup.co.za
About Blue Label Data Solutions
Blue Label Data Solutions, a division of Blue Label Telecoms Limited, provides quality data lists, data management and cleansing, data profiling, lead generation services, and Emagine, a closed-loop marketing suite, enabling us to create a competitive advantage for our clients, and augment our position as a market leader in South Africa.
Quality data provides organisations with the resilience, adaptability and flexibility to face the realities of doing business in today’s environment and in meeting their key strategic business objectives. For these reasons, data providers are playing an increasingly central role in organisational growth. Customer and relationship-driven companies are more frequently looking to outside providers to create, manage and maintain quality data lists for them. A strategically oriented data partner with the requisite skills in data management is far better equipped to help organisations achieve their growth objectives. www.blds.co.za