Merseyside, West , North Wales and Isle of Man Region

Keep up to date with your region by visiting the BIBA website at www.biba.org.uk

2009 Committee

Chairman Chairman’s Introduction Julie Blakeley Astbury Wren & Co Ltd 01244 310574 I am very honoured and proud to be your [email protected] Chairman in 2009, and I am looking forward to an exciting year as a Chairman and a Deputy Chairman challenging one as a broker! Phil Coffey Butterworth Spengler Commercial Ltd For those who do not know me, I am Wrexham born and bred and very proud of my Welsh 0151 494 4400 roots although I have crossed the English border into Chester for all my working life which so [email protected] far is 10 years in Royal Insurance and 13 years to date at Astbury Wren. Secretary and Press and PR I have been on your Regional Committee for 4 years and during this time have been very Vida Wilson impressed by the enthusiasm and diligence of my fellow committee members. I was pleased th Jardine Lloyd Thompson that so many were re-elected at our AGM on 15 January 0151 243 0244 [email protected]. We have decided to issue this newsletter as an introduction to me and your fellow committee members. It highlights the various events that are planned for this year including details of the Charity Casino Night in February, the national BIBA Conference in May and our Compliance Training and Competence Forums. Karen Collo Wetherall Insurance Advisers Ltd I have no doubt that this year will be very challenging for many reasons and I look forward to 0151 355 4568 meeting you throughout the year at the various events which have been arranged for us all to [email protected] combine forces and make sure that our voice is heard! Treasurer Trish Sharrock Please keep up to date with current events and important information on the BIBA website at Philip Williams Insurance www.biba.org.uk; the , West Cheshire, N Wales & IOM Regional page keeps you Management updated on our events. 01925 604421 [email protected] Thank you all and have a very prosperous 2009 Dinner Secretary Julie Blakeley Phil Bailey Chairman Risk Services(NW) Ltd 01244 357155 [email protected] Merseyside West Cheshire N Wales & IOM Region AGM. Regional Executive This was held on 15th January at the Revolution Bar in and we are grateful to Peter Bob Nicholls Hughes (Vice President of Standard and Poors) who very kindly accepted our invitation to BIBA address the members. I know that all those present greatly enjoyed his entertaining and thought 07831 423628 provoking presentation. What was clear was that this is a much more complex a wide ranging [email protected] topic than you might imagine and despite the questions raised by the recent turbulence in the financial markets, the success rate of Standard and Poors has been excellent. Topics covered included an overview of the ratings method and process, the relevance of parent guarantees, ratings upgrades and the frequency of ratings updates - subjects which merely scratched the surface of a very large yet interesting process, and one which is made more difficult by the fact that, in the words of Peter, "nothing is certain".

Other business covered at the meeting were the year end accounts, the selection of the committee members, the outgoing and incoming Chairman's speeches and most importantly a delicious buffet kindly provided by the Revolution!

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th Charity Casino Night - 27 February 2009, in aid of Claire House and The Insurance Committee Members Charities. The Chester & North Wales CII and your Regional BIBA Committee will be hosting a charity event at Cheshire View in Christleton, near Chester. The James Bond themed Casino night is open to all CII and BIBA members plus their corporate guests. The event will get the roulette Andrew Gibbons ball rolling at 7:15pm with a Bucks Fizz reception and will also include a two course meal. There Mason Owen Financial Services will be Poker, Roulette and Blackjack tables to excite your guests, together with a charity Ltd auction and raffle, all for the fantastic price of £26 per ticket. Black tie is compulsory but arriving 0151 255 2601 in an Aston Martin DB5 and packing a Walther PPK will leave us shaken and stirred! Anyone [email protected] interested should contact Julie Blakeley on 01244 356 522 or Julie.blakeley@astbury- wren.co.uk Suzi Kilpatrick Philip Williams Insurance We are very pleased to be working with The Insurance Charities and Claire House which, in Management their separate ways, provide such invaluable help - the Insurance Charities offer financial 01925 604421 support to insurance industry employees who have suffered misfortune and Claire House [email protected] provides a loving and caring environment for children with life threatening or life limiting conditions and their families from Merseyside, Cheshire, North Wales and the Isle of Man; their George Ellaby websites are- www.theinsurancecharity.org.uk and www.claire-house.org.uk Aon Ltd 07779 702948 [email protected] Compliance Forum. The next Compliance Forum is to be held at The Artists Club in Liverpool on 18th March 2009 Ian Hoskin and if you have not yet attended the format is informal and whilst the forums have been Oval Insurance Broking ltd arranged by your regional committee they are run by yourselves, i.e. members who have 0151 702 7829 compliance responsibilities. The meetings discuss any topical issues and allow us to help each [email protected] other with any compliance queries- writing this in January 2009 the ‘hot’ topic is Commission Disclosure. Do you have a view on this?- why not come and join in with like-minded brokers to Martyn Owens discuss further. At the last few forums we had guest speakers, September was Terry Saunders Jardine Lloyd Thompson from the FSA and in December Steve White gave a very interesting talk on Commission 0151 243 0283 Disclosure (Steve is the Head of Compliance and Training at BIBA). [email protected]

If you would like to join in the meeting on 18th March 2009 please email Bob Nicholls at [email protected] Caroline Thomas Jardine Lloyd Thompson 0151 243 0233 Lloyds of London tour. [email protected] The Region’s committee members will enjoy this fantastic tour in March. The committee will be provided with lunch at BIBA house before going on to be shown around Lloyds when, no doubt, the room will be operating at fever pitch. The opportunity to see how this world renowned insurance market operates will be repeated again in the autumn of 2009 and will be open to all BIBA members. Interested parties should email the Regional Chairman: Julie Blakeley - [email protected].

BIBA National Conference - 13th-15th May 2009, at the Manchester Central (formerly G- MEX) Last year’s conference in Glasgow was a huge success, with 2024 attendees from 1049 brokers and 167 exhibitors and this year’s promises to be even better. A great opportunity to network within the industry and see how your BIBA membership is working for you in these difficult times - the fact that this year it is in Manchester makes it is easier than ever to join in- even if it is just for a day or a few hours If you have never been we would say that is well worth a visit. For information on how to book your free place go to www.campaignpartners.co.uk/biba/home.htm.

Broker Academy - regional training sessions. BIBA and CII have arranged the new 2009 timetable for these training sessions, please follow the link on the BIBA website for all details but February to May are noted below- at the moment these are noted as taking place in Manchester- In December we worked hard on your behalf to get the first session in Liverpool and we have won a commitment from the CII to support the local area. We are committed to getting more training delivered locally but this requires your commitment too and we would ask you to please support the training that is on offer.

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3rd February 2009 Liability Insurance Intermediate 12th February 2009 Contractors Liability Intermediate 18th February 2009 Household Insurance Intermediate 10th March 2009 Commercial Insurance Introduction 24th March 2009 Motor Insurance Technical 1st April 2009 Liability Introduction 6th May 2009 High Net Worth Intermediate 12th May 2009 Customer Care Skills 19th May 2009 Motor Fleet Intermediate

Annual Dinner- Date for your Diary It’s a long way off yet but please note that the professional and social highlight of our year, the Annual Dinner is to be held at the Mollington Banastre in Chester on Friday 6th November 2009- further details will obviously follow but we thought you might like to note the date.

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