I’ve forced myself to analyse why and I think it comes down to two things: the ‘head’ reason is that government actions can and do have a significant impact on you/your family’s life (just ask the Greeks!). The ‘heart’ one for me is the fascination I feel in witnessing this huge national sales pitch, extending across the whole of the UK, 24/7 – it’s like a time-constrained war with 650 mini-battles to be won and success or failure being so finely balanced – who would have thought that a Granny going out for bread in Rochdale would becoming a defining moment of the campaign?

So you can imagine, with all of my excitement why I find members of the ‘Apathy Party’ somewhat frustrating – we are all highly sophisticated consumers these days, we can all make preference choices on coffee, sofas and holidays, you would think we’d be able to make political choices too, even if it’s just the lesser of evils.

It also pays to make clear choices in the insurance world. The key part of a Broker’s job is to help their clients make the right choices around their insurance cover and provider – all insurers are not the same and clients won’t thank their brokers if they have a poor claims experience or the insurer they were recommended is facing it’s own financial difficulties – as with most things in life, price and value are two different things. With insurance, as in politics, you need to look below the glossy surface and examine the true character.

Insurers also have choices – brokers come in all sizes and quality levels and the two aren’t necessarily correlated. At Aviva, we have made very conscious choices of the brokers we wish to work closest with – they are all shapes and sizes but the common thread is professionalism in looking after their clients needs and the quality and trust in our relationship.  Treat us as a partner and we’ll do the same.

The key difference between the election and insurance choices is that brokers and insurers have to prove themselves day in day out – delivering on our promises and justifying the loyalty we are shown or our customers will walk.  You only get one chance every 5 years to make a choice on your government – a sobering thought and one that should make even the most ambivalent choose choice over apathy next Thursday.

Phil Bayles (Director: Broker Key Partners)

At this time of the year, my job becomes more of a trial of endurance and recovery than the nuts and bolts of everyday trading. Everyone has a party and you can trip from bar to restaurant to bar in the City from noon till midnight, often rubbing shoulders with the same brokers and competitors, all taking their turns to host and be hosted. On one level, this all seems a bit old-school and somewhat removed from these straightened times but on another level it meets that deep psychological need to draw the line under one year and start preparing for the one to come.

Someone once said that success is when preparation meets opportunity and we are certainly well prepared for 2010. You know when you have market momentum and we are in that happy position on a number of fronts – Corporate Risks, Personal Lines, Fast Trade, Independent Brokers and open market trading. This time last year, the recession was just hitting us – clients/brokers/insurers were reeling but this year we know what it means and are trading through it alongside our broker partners. So when at the XV Club Dinner last week, I had the opportunity to ‘drink from the loving cup’ with august colleagues from the industry, it wasn’t just a cold that I caught, it was the whiff of better times ahead for us and our brokers – you may think I’ve had a little too much Christmas cheer on my rounds in the City but just try a little optimism this New Year, it might – like the loving cup – prove contagious.

Best regs,

Phil Bayles (Broker & Key Partners Director)

My name is Phil Bayles. I look after Broker business in the south of UK as well as National Brokers and London Property Owners. I live in Southampton and support Southampton FC – I get a lot of sympathy from taxi drivers at the moment on that count.

When I first joined Norwich Union six years ago, whenever I arrived at a broker’s office their first question would be ‘what are you?’ There are lots of answers to that question(!), but what they meant was whether I had worked for Norwich Union, Commercial Union, General Accident or London and Edinburgh. Norwich Union might have been the name of the company; however there were definitely four different tribes under the surface. The answer I gave was ‘I’m an outsider’ – that was a conversation stopper.

During those early years I spent a lot of time in Perth, mainly with ex GA, with a few ex CU’ers and so I have always had a strong affinity with the Scots people and the place, more so than for Norwich as my time is mostly elsewhere. However this weekend I’ve spent some time in Norfolk and Suffolk and for the first time I have started to understand why the name change from Norwich Union to Aviva could be such a big deal if you hale from these counties.

I only usually head to East Anglia for business meetings but recently I visited North Norfolk -Burnham Market and Holkham beach- with my family, before heading to Southwold in Suffolk. These beautiful counties seem to have retained much of what has been lost elsewhere in England – unspoilt countryside, traditional pubs, pigs roaming in fields, even attendants at petrol stations (I jest not).

Nelson – a great strategist and patriot – was proud to be from Norfolk and I now understand why. I can also understand that if you are from Norfolk then losing one of the main symbols of your success – the Norwich Union name – must be difficult to embrace. Yet despite this certainty I see the enthusiasm in Norwich mounting, as I do elsewhere in the country – enthusiasm for a company rooted in British heritage to be trading so successfully in so many countries around the world and about to get a name change to reflect that and be recognised globally.

The tribe of four has become yesterday’s news. Norwich can feel proud of the fact that it all began in their home town and Aviva will bring peace of mind and prosperity to millions of customers all over the UK and around the world. We’ve come a long way in six years.

Phil Bayles – Director of Trading