An intermediary representing the client to place its risk with insurers, negotiate terms and advise it, a central player in large risks and reinsurance.
A broker is an intermediary that represents the client, whether an insured or, in reinsurance, a cedant, and acts in its interest to place its risk on the market. Its mission combines several roles, identifying and analyzing the client's needs, structuring the cover program, putting insurers or reinsurers in competition, negotiating terms and prices, and advising throughout the life of the contract, including in claims handling. The broker differs from the agent, which by contrast represents the insurer. This difference of principal is fundamental, because it places the broker on the demand side, as the client's adviser facing the market. On large corporate risks and in reinsurance, the broker holds a central position, a few large global groups concentrating a considerable share of placements and possessing expertise and data that make them indispensable players, notably on complex risks such as cyber. Its remuneration, through commission or fees, and the power conferred on it by its intermediary position raise recurrent questions of transparency and potential conflicts of interest, which have led to regulatory oversight of the profession and of its duties to inform the client.
A large company mandates a broker to build its cyber insurance tower. The broker structures the program, puts insurers in competition on each layer and negotiates the terms, acting as the company's adviser and not the insurers'.
courtier, broker, courtier en assurance, courtier de réassurance