Insurance brokers are no strangers to risk. Indeed, their primary role is to facilitate the transfer of risk through the placement of insurance cover on behalf of an insured. But what about the risks closer to home?
It is trite law that a broker is the agent of the insured and therefore owes duties to the insured rather than insurers. In practice, however, commercial reality may complicate matters. Chains of brokers are commonly found where, for example, a foreign producing broker wishes to instruct an English placing broker to place a risk in his home country with the London market, or where an English producing broker has to instruct a Lloyd’s broker to gain access to the Lloyd’s market. In these circumstances, what duties do the brokers in the chain owe?
