On the decline of brokers: a response to Jim Davis

Willis Corroon's Jim Davis erroneously reported the decline of risk managers as insurance brokers sought to provide corporate risk management services in an article in the Apr 18, 1994 edition of the National Underwriter. The truth is that core risk management functions can not be outsourced. Insurance brokers' business is being squeezed by the trend towards corporate risk managers eschewing brokers in favor of directly placing their own insurance coverage with insurance companies. Insurance brokers will survive in the future by reducing their overhead and improving their service to their clients.
The Risk and Insurance Management Society Conference in New Orleans last month was one of the most sucessful national conferences in RIMS' history. But, strangely, the week of the RIMS [...]