Spanish legislation on insurance and reinsurance mediation stipulates that intermediary can only receive commissions and fees for the management of their policies and prohibits any other form of remuneration. However, it is possible that financial intermediaries who manage larger risks wait until the end of the legal deadline to settle with insurance companies. This common practice in the insurance market hides additional remuneration in defiance of the law. It also means that the risk is not covered within the prescribed period and would, involve a commercial payment to the client, and, on the other hand, affect sustainable claims management.
This research focuses on the customer orientation of insurance brokers, whose activity is regulated by the Law on the mediation of private insurances and reinsurances. The goal is to ascertain whether the intermediation inherent in the insurance broker’s activity, which implies a customer-oriented service, entails a positive behaviour that transcends the immediate environment, reaching society. This study presents a comparative analysis between the insurance brokerage society, characterised by a personalised customer service, and banks’ advisory services on insurance. To this end, the study uses a sample of insurance brokerage firms in Spain. The results presented in this study suggest that the customer values the advisory service provided by the broker. However, for a particular business segment in standardized insurance products and products related to banking assets, customers are more likely to resort to the bank’s services. In addition, the results indicate that the commission percentages applied by the entities operating in the banking insurance channel exceed those perceived by the insurance broker. With all this, intermediation in the development of the insurer’s activity can entail social behaviour that involves customer-orientation and, possibly, social service and environmental performance.
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