They say that he who pays the piper calls the tune. So why don't more risk managers just pay their brokers a set fee, rather than complain about contingent commissions corrupting the insurance placement process?

Full disclosure of broker compensation should be a given, but why bother trying to figure out whether brokers are steering business to suit their own bottom lines, when such conflicts can be avoided altogether by simply paying directly for brokerage services?

The debate over contingent commissions raged anew during the recent Risk and Insurance Management Society annual conference. Willis CEO Joe Plumeri launched a Web page at the meeting–www.ClientsBeforeContingents.com–to “educate” risk managers about the evils of such fees, and to urge buyers to vote with their wallets by patronizing brokers (like his) that refuse such bonus commissions.

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