NIBA Launches the 2027 Insurance Brokers Code of Practice

The National Insurance Brokers Association (NIBA) is delighted to launch the 2027 Insurance Brokers Code of Practice (the Code) at the NIBA Convention. The new Code is written in plain English and addressed directly to clients. It sets out what every client can expect from their broker and takes effect on 1 January 2027.

For more than 40 years, NIBA has been the voice of the insurance broking profession in Australia. Over that time, NIBA has worked to raise professional standards through the Qualified Practising Insurance Broker (QPIB) designation, continuing professional development for members, and a Code of Practice that brokers first committed to in 1992.

The 2027 Code will guide the profession through to NIBA’s 50th anniversary in 2032. In those years, both brokers and clients will continue to face rapid technological change, including artificial intelligence, alongside increasing environmental and social pressures.

“No single reform defines this Code. Its strength lies in how its obligations work together to describe what clients should expect from a professional insurance broker, from the first conversation through to a claim,” said NIBA President Nick Cook.

The Code grows from 12 sections to 14. Conflicts of interest now have a section of their own, bringing together obligations that were spread across four sections of the 2022 Code, and a new section sets out how client records are kept. Any client, whatever the size of their business or the type of policy, can ask what their broker is paid and get the answer in dollars. The minimum notice before a policy renews doubles, from 14 days to 28. A client going through a difficult time can, with their consent, have it recorded once so they do not have to explain it again. After a declared catastrophe, brokers must contact affected clients as soon as they reasonably can and offer to help them lodge their claims.

“A Code proves its worth at the moments clients are most exposed: when a premium jumps, when a claim follows a disaster, when life gets hard. That is where this Code does its work, and it is written so clients can read it and hold their broker to it,” said NIBA CEO Richard Klipin.

The Code was built in three stages: an independent review, followed by two rounds of NIBA’s own consultation. The Code review was a rigorous process that was guided by five key principles of transparency, modernisation, accessibility, flexibility and efficiency. The review began in late 2024 with the appointment of an independent reviewer and concluded with two rounds of public consultation in 2026. It sought the voices and feedback of members, clients, consumer representatives, regulators and industry stakeholders, and each view was heard and considered.

Fifty-one written submissions were received, and more than 300 pieces of feedback on the draft Code were each mapped to the clause they addressed and given a recorded decision. Views did not always point the same way, and not every view was adopted. Where they diverged, the NIBA Board made the call. NIBA’s consultation report, released today alongside the Code, sets out what was heard in each round.

“We have set out our reasoning on the contested calls, including the ones some stakeholders will still disagree with. A profession that asks clients to trust its standards should be willing to show how it set them,” said Chair of the Code Review Committee Di Phelan.

The Code will take effect from 1 January 2027 and obligations that need new systems, processes or training must be met in full within 12 months of the Code taking effect. NIBA will support Code Subscribers with a map from the 2022 Code to the 2027 Code and section-by-section Implementation Guidance, and will publish a plain-English guide for clients on what they can expect from their broker. NIBA will also undertake training across the membership to embed the new Code.

Delivering a fit-for-purpose Code relies on robust collaboration. NIBA thanks everyone who made a submission or gave feedback, including brokers, regulators and government agencies, the external dispute resolution scheme, consumer and financial counselling organisations, professional bodies and the Insurance Brokers Code Compliance Committee (IBCCC).

The Code is available at https://niba.com.au/code-of-practice