The National Insurance Brokers Association (NIBA) has opened public consultation on a rewritten Insurance Brokers Code of Practice that extends remuneration disclosure to all strata insurance – the segment that has drawn the most sustained regulatory and consumer scrutiny of any part of the broking market. The consultation runs from July 8 to Aug. 7, 2026, with a final Code to be settled later in the year.
The draft arrives weeks after the Insurance Brokers Code Compliance Committee (IBCCC) published a strata review that found none of the seven brokers examined was consistently implementing the Code’s safeguards. The Committee issued nine breach determinations across the seven brokers – seven for representative agreements that omitted required Code obligations, one for remuneration disclosure, and one for conflicts of interest. It referred two brokers to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) for consideration of non-compliance with conflict-management requirements under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) and referred its strata concerns to NSW Fair Trading under the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (NSW). The seven brokers collectively engaged 1,088 representatives in strata management, and one matter remains under investigation.
Under Section 7 of the draft, brokers must disclose remuneration as a dollar amount at invoice stage, and any client can request that figure for any product at any time. The draft extends remuneration disclosure to all strata insurance, both residential and commercial, whether or not the client is a retail client under the Corporations Act. It identifies the strata client as the owners corporation rather than the strata manager – a distinction the IBCCC underscored, having found brokers relied on strata managers to pass disclosures to owners without mechanisms to verify they arrived. The expanded strata obligation carries a 12- to 18-month transition period for system changes.
Section 7.6 prohibits brokers from receiving contingent remuneration from an insurer when acting on a client’s behalf, except where acting for an insurer under a binder arrangement without providing client advice. The draft also aligns its conflicts-of-interest definition with ASIC Regulatory Guide 181, introduces a 28-calendar-day pre-renewal contact requirement, elevates record-keeping to a Code obligation, expands protections for clients experiencing vulnerability under Section 9, and commits NIBA to independent review at least every five years.
The rewrite traces to the independent review by cameron.ralph.khoury, led by Phil Khoury, which delivered 14 recommendations in December 2025. NIBA’s January 2026 response supported six and reworked or opposed eight. Among those it rejected were making the Code contractually enforceable and mandating disclosure templates, which NIBA argued could be too prescriptive for a profession spanning sole practitioners to multinational brokers. The draft now out for consultation reflects that negotiated position.
Compliance data underscores why remuneration is the pressure point. IBCCC figures show remuneration-disclosure breaches rose from 42 in 2023 to 334 in 2024, a period coinciding with new informed-consent rules requiring consent before a broker receives commission on personal advice to retail clients, which took effect in July 2025 and are separate from the Code.
Consumer organisations have signalled the draft may not settle the strata question. In a joint submission with the Owners Corporation Network of Australia and the Unit Owners Association of Queensland, the Australian Consumers Insurance Lobby (ACIL) called on NIBA to prohibit arrangements that induce strata managers to breach fiduciary duties and to address joint-venture and dual-role structures it considers unmanageable conflicts. ACIL chair Tyrone Shandiman said the conflicts identified in the strata sector were issues the industry could still fix “on its own terms – but perhaps not for much longer.” NIBA has maintained a different position, arguing in its NSW submission that vertical integration is not inherently problematic and that disclosure and active conflict management, rather than prohibition, are the appropriate response.
Government action is advancing in parallel. The NSW Productivity and Equality Commission delivered its Strata Commissions Review to the Minister for Better Regulation and Fair Trading on Feb. 27, 2026, finding that moving strata managers from commissions to a fee-for-service model could generate more than $333 million in net benefits over 15 years, and setting out four options including prohibiting strata managers from accepting commissions. The direct effect on brokers is limited, however: the Commission noted the NSW government can regulate its licensed strata managers but not broker commissions, which fall under Commonwealth financial services law, so any move on broking remuneration would require Commonwealth cooperation. NIBA opposed the broadest supply-chain option in its December 2025 submission, citing jurisdictional concerns and reduced consumer access to advice.
NIBA president Nick Cook said the release “delivers an enhanced Code that includes eight substantial enhancements for clients – from plain-English obligations and dollar figure remuneration disclosure to stronger protections for vulnerable clients and management of conflict of interest.” He said NIBA wanted “to hear from members, clients, regulators, and the wider community before it returns to the board for sign off.”
CEO Richard Klipin said: “Codes are fundamentally about trust, and trust is built by being transparent with clients, treating them fairly, and pushing the profession to keep improving.” NIBA cited research indicating 84% of clients trust their broker to act in their best interest and 95% consider their broker essential at claim time and has noted broker-related matters were 0.8% of complaints lodged with the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) in 2024/25.
NIBA represents about 380 member firms and more than 14,000 individual brokers. Brokers bound by the 2022 Code will need to formally adopt the new Code by an adoption deadline still to be determined.
