A survey of 2,000 UK brokers carried out by Assurant Intermediary found that 90% thought that the sale of GI is “important” to their business and of those, 48% described it as “very important.”

Meanwhile, over half of the brokers surveyed by the specialist general insurance provider said that GI would become even more important to their business next year.

“Brokers know that GI is always a vital income stream for their business, not just when mortgage sales are depressed,” said Kevin Paterson, sales and marketing director, Assurant Intermediary.

“Brokers are also increasingly aware of other profitable GI lines outside of the products that they traditionally offer. If they are already advising their clients on mortgage protection and life cover, it’s not a huge leap to suggest other useful products such as income protection or buildings and contents cover. The survey results show that there is a healthy appetite to sell a wide range of GI products and the drive to increase product range is very real.

“Interestingly, compared to the same survey conducted in 2009 there was an 11% rise in the number of brokers who would be willing to sell tenants contents insurance. Perhaps this reflects the state of the market and the increased sales opportunity created by the rise in the number of renters on the market.”

“In open questions, of those reasons cited for failure to offer certain GI products, a common response was “lack of expertise and information on the products.”

Paterson believes brokers lack confidence in selling GI products traditionally out of scope, and that this is an area where GI providers can really add value.

He added: “These products aren’t complex and no broker should shy away from offering more and different types of GI for lack of understanding.

“Clearly selling GI takes a degree of knowledge but as a GI provider, you can count on Assurant Intermediary to provide comprehensive training and ongoing support.”