I walk to and from the office each day. My walks provide an amazing time to contemplate the highs and lows of the working day. I know I could do that on the train or the bus, but I like the walk better (plus I don’t have to endure the sound of leaky MP3 players or iPods) and I get some much needed exercise.

Often I vary my route, particularly if my mind is racing. Keeping track of all that BIBA House staff are involved in generally guarantees churning thoughts. This week is no exception, to give just a few examples, we have commission disclosure and discussions with the regulator and the ABI about a potential market solution, our response to DP08/2, the developing EU environmental liability directive, treating customers fairly, the Pitt report, work on the rights of older people, broker training and compliance forums, professional indemnity initiatives, a meeting with the National Fraud Strategic Authority, and the impending launch of our guide to members about protecting their businesses from financial crime.

The sheer range of activities is exhausting so it was with interest that I read in the FT about Procter & Gamble introducing staff sleep pods in their Geneva offices. That would never happen on my watch, I chuckled to myself. Then lo and behold, I’m informed that Wednesday was national siesta day. Hmm, this needed investigating to ensure that it wasn’t a prank being played on me by a BIBA staff member.

Apparently, it’s true and British businesses are being encouraged to let their staff have a snooze during the day. Just a 10-20 minute nap can improve memory, productivity and concentration as well as cut the risk of heart disease, campaigners argue. Staff should be able to nap during their lunch break free from the fear that their co-workers think they’re lazy or have imbibed a liquid lunch, we’re told.

As I walked home that night I still couldn’t see how we could accommodate naps safely at the office. Where would we fit the sleep pods? What about timing? Then there’s the privacy aspects, would we have to segregate male and female staff? What if, heaven forbid, a member of staff goes to sleep and doesn’t wake up again, are we liable? These concerns don’t seem to affect rail and bus commuters, many of whom seem to have napping down to a fine art. I suspect, I may soon be called upon to launch a feasibility study into this matter, but first I might just curl up under my desk and get in a few zzzzs – all in the interests of research, mind you!

“I love it when a plan comes together” – those of you who were young during the 1980s will remember the catchphrase of cigar-chomping Colonel John ‘Hannibal’ Smith of the A-team. The action-packed adventure TV series was required viewing for many children (and a fair few adults too) during that decade. Once Hannibal uttered those words, we knew that everything would soon be right with the world.

When you participate in as many forums, round table discussions and conferences as I do, it can sometimes be quite hard to determine whether there is a ‘plan’ in the world beyond the walls of the venue, let alone one with sufficient cohesion to bring things to a successful conclusion. Unlike in the A-team, where there was only good and bad or black and white, the real world contains many different shades of grey in between. Don’t get me wrong, discussion is great, but occasionally the seeming lack of progress on an issue or ‘plan’ gets frustrating. 

Last week saw me in Berlin for another quarterly conference of our European sister organisation BIPAR, where once again commission disclosure and transparency issues were on the agenda. This week I was up in Edinburgh for the AIRMIC annual conference where I attended a forum discussion entitled: ‘Do the regulators understand our business?’ While I don’t think the content of the discussion quite matched its billing, it was interesting nonetheless and heartening.

Up on stage Sean Greenaway, from the DG Competition unit at the European Commission, Matthew Brown from the FSA, and UK Law Commissioner David Hertzell, offered a perspective on the work their respective organisations were currently pursuing. Insurance law reform and in particular the question of who the intermediary is agent of, commission disclosure, transparency, access to market and encouraging greater competition are all interconnected issues under discussion which will have significant repercussions for the industry.

Greenaway was complimentary about the work that BIPAR had done in putting forward an industry solution for the placement of co-insurance in the subscription market; he hoped BIPAR would continue those efforts by engaging in discussions on intermediary transparency and conflicts of interest across Europe. Brown acknowledged that issues surrounding broker commission and disclosure had dragged on for too long and that there was now an urgency to get these resolved; with a market solution the preferred option seemingly.

This was all extremely reassuring; at last the regulators seemed to be listening to market participants. BIBA’s hard work, including its engagement with BIPAR, on all these fronts appears to be paying off with things beginning to gel; so much so that there is the potential for that ‘plan’ to come together at last. Fingers crossed, I’m not proven wrong and I can finally erase Mr T’s voice which has been niggling at the back of my mind and calling me a “Crazy fool!” for believing.

I was gratified to see at the weekend that at least one person appeared to be reading my blogs. Flicking through the Sunday Times, I paused to read an article by Kathryn Cooper about water being the new oil. Investment bank Goldman Sachs has described water as the ‘petroleum for the next century’ labelling it the next ‘hot’ commodity in which to invest, according to Cooper.

Global demand for water is soaring, while its quality is deteriorating and getting supplies to those who need them is getting more difficult – it all sounded depressingly familiar. However, for me it’s not a case of familiarity breeds contempt, but rather a realisation that persistency pays. If enough people give the same message loudly enough then people eventually have to sit up and pay attention to what is being said.

That reassures me immensely as we enter the last remaining weeks of the debate concerning the FSA’s discussion paper 08/2 on transparency, disclosure and conflicts of interest in the commercial insurance market. It is a debate that BIBA has been heavily involved with since 2005 and we have informed and encouraged our members to play a part in those discussions at each stage.

There have been times where I’ve felt like a stuck record saying that BIBA is of the view that we do not need the FSA to mandate disclosure; but we really don’t. Provided firms are actively indentifying and managing conflicts of interest have a process in place to fully disclose commissions if asked and are more transparent in their TOBAs then the FSA’s case for mandating reduces.

This is such an important issue.  We know that some of BIBA’s members have already taken the time to respond to DP08/2 and write to Hector Sants at the FSA to inform him of their views, but there are still many more that have not. It is imperative that the FSA hears directly from you, the practitioner, by the 25th June 2008 deadline.

It is our profession and our businesses that will be affected should there be a decision to mandate disclosure. Every single BIBA member I’ve met since this paper has been published has had an opinion on the matter, so why the reticence? Why not make the effort and communicate your views to the FSA which is duty bound to take into account the content and volume of responses received. 

So this blog comes with something of a health warning – please, please, please respond to the discussion paper. BIBA will be making an official response and is working on a market solution, but the FSA also needs to hear from as many individual firms as possible. If they don’t, the regulator will never know the full strength of opinion on this issue and be able to make an informed decision which results in a satisfactory resolution for all in the industry.

Nor any drop to drink’, is how the poem goes. Coming from Glasgow and having lived through many a Scottish summer where the drip, drop, drip of rain is a constant accompaniment, it’s hard to imagine ever being without water. Ok so Coleridge was telling the fictitious tale of the ancient mariner whose luck took a turn for the worse after killing an albatross, but he had a point, water – either in terms of its quantity or quality – is a huge problem.

The May 2008 edition of the Geneva Association’s newsletter on risk management brought that message home to me. One of its articles focused on the role of the chief risk officer in balancing risks and opportunities. It also discussed loss icebergs of risk, insurability and sustainability plus water as another potential world crisis.

The publication is packed with statistics. It tells me that two thirds of the earth is covered in water, but only one per cent of it is drinkable. Around 3,800 cubic kilometres of fresh water are withdrawn from the world’s rivers, lakes and acquifers annually; twice the volume extracted 50 years ago. Ground water is being used up at a faster rate than it can be replenished in most cities with a population of more than 100,000. I am also introduced to the concept of ‘virtual water’, which allows me visualise how much water is used to produce a good or a service, e.g. bottling a litre of Coca-Cola requires four litres of water.

Meanwhile, a staggering 5,000 children are dying of cholera, hepatitis A and bilharzias infections every day due to a lack of clean water and sewage infrastructures. The figures are both fascinating and disturbing.

At home we see the impact of rising sea levels, the consequences of building on flood plains, changing precipitation patterns and flash floods which overwhelm our drainage systems. How to manage our water resources properly is vital. In the UK, the Pitt recommendations are going someway to address concerns, but this is only one element of the bigger watery picture.

We have to get better at managing this important natural asset; we also have to help those with scarce water resources. The challenge is to ensure that everyone around the world has enough safe, clean water to drink. I believe that every country has to take measures to manage their water resources more effectively if we are to avoid it becoming another global crisis like oil.