In December 1993 Cyril Chaplin managed to get one or two Life offices to distribute to their broker associates an open letter stressing concern that brokers had no independent representation in New Zealand.
With the communication was a response for them to contact Cyril and about 40 replies were received from around New Zealand.
After meetings and discussions with several of the respondents it was decided to hold and inaugural meeting in Rotorua in July 1994 at the Princess Gate Hotel. That meeting was attended by Richard Bibby, Cyril Chaplin, Geoff Chard, David Craven, Nigel Hibberd, Don Hill, Mike Kelberg, Alan Murray, Paul Murray, Tracey Robinson, Tony Ryan, Bill Sharplin, Graham Shaw, Les Te Paa, Barry Trotter, Helena van den Berg and Dick Whittington. This group unanimously passed a draft constitution and agreed to recruit enough support so that we could incorporate as an Incorporated Society.
This was accomplished in September 1994 and the first meeting of the Association was held at the Okoroire Hotel just south of Hamilton. The first Board elected were Cyril Chaplin – President, Tracey Robinson – 1st Vice President, Les Te Paa – 2nd Vice President, Nigel Hibberd – Secretary/Treasurer, Board Members – Dave Craven, Cyril Ashby, Alan Murray and Helena van den Berg.
The draft constitution, with only a few minor modifications, remains the same today. The most important areas were that the Brokers must not be tied to a single Life Office or have to place a certain amount of business with any one Life Office. The principals of free enterprise must prevail and he/she must be able to place business with any company that is willing to accept business form them on behalf of their clients. As a result, only Brokers who had true independence could become members of the Association and in the early days a number of persons who were still tied to Life Offices were unable to join.
Our membership now has exceeded 150 members. It is not the associations’ ambition to be the biggest organisation in New Zealand, but most certainly the best, by giving its members a range of benefits and services that can not be matched by any other industry body.
At the LBA’s AGM held in Auckland in 2003 a motion was passed to create a new class of membership for those who do not fit the independent criteria. Affiliate membership can be granted for Life Brokers who hold restrictive agency agreements. Affiliate members are able to attend all LBA events and benefit from the education and fellowship the association has to offer. Affiliate members however, do not have voting rights.