A new survey has found that intermediaries are currently very confident about the future of their business.

The survey, carried out by general insurance provider Select & Protect of over 4,000 UK mortgage intermediaries, asked them the question ‘how confident are you about the future of your business, to which 97% said they were confident and, of these, 37% said they were extremely confident.

Bruce Reid, Select & Protect’s distribution director, said: “We wanted to take the pulse of brokers around the country to find out how they had fared this year, particularly in light of the new regulations surrounding the sale of mortgages, and how selling general insurance products fits in to their daily business.

“With over half the brokers surveyed telling us that they were arranging more mortgages this year and 60% saying that they often sell second or third mortgages, perhaps it’s not surprising to learn that most are feeling confident about the future of their business.”

When it comes to the sale of general insurance products, 79% said it was important to the overall income of their business. Almost half those surveyed said that they offer them to their clients every time they arrange a mortgage while just over a quarter said they regularly use a client referral or introducer service. When asked what the biggest challenge was when it comes to selling general insurance, 61% cited price comparison websites.

When asked which general insurance products they currently offer to clients the top three were buildings & contents (96%), income protection (77%) and landlord insurance (76%).

And as for the factors most important to intermediaries when selecting a general insurance provider, intermediaries ranked competitive premiums the most important (84%), followed by quality of cover (72%) and a quick and easy quotation process (62%).

Reid added: “Despite having to cope with extensive new regulation in the midst of an increasingly buoyant marketplace, it appears that intermediaries have risen to the challenge as they always do. It’s really encouraging to see the level of confidence they have about their businesses for 2015 and how integral general insurance is to their overall service offering to their customers.

“The team at Select & Protect will be doing all we can to continue to deliver the quality general insurance products backed up by exemplary claims handling and customer service to make sure that general insurance remains an important and profitable revenue stream to our intermediary partners.”