Apart from the BIPAR staff at the Permanent Secretariat, all chairs and members of committees and working groups provide their services on a voluntary basis and are not remunerated by BIPAR. Transparency vis-à-vis its members, the efficiency and coordination of the activities and efforts of BIPAR committees are guaranteed by annual activity plans. All major strategic decisions are submitted for vote to its supreme decision-making body, the General Assembly, which traditionally convenes annually in one of the countries where a BIPAR member association is domiciled. BIPAR is financed by membership dues from its national member associations.
Governing Board
BIPAR activities are governed by its Governing Board, a Management Committee and a Steering Committee.
GOVERNING BOARD (June 2025-June 2026):
- Yorck HILLEGAART, Chair
- Nicolas BOHEME, Past Chariman/Vice-Chair
- Onno PAYMANS, Vice-Chair
- Martina DE BESI, Secretary General
- Steve SARTOR, Treasurer
The MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE is composed of the members of the Governing Board and of the following 2 members:
- Paul CARTY, Chair of the EU Affairs Committee
- Jean-François MOSSINO, Chair of the Agents' Committee
The STEERING COMMITTEE is composed of the members of the Governing Board, the Management Committee and of the following members (June 2025-June 2026):
- Gerald ARCHANGELI
- Pierre-Olivier CHANOVE
- Andrea CORBELLA
- Gunnar HÖKMARK
- Mark NUGENT
- Juan RAMÓN PLÁ
- Barbara ROZEK
- Julien SERAQUI
- Roger VAN DER LINDEN (Chairman of the Brokers’ Committee)
- David WAHLI
Standing Committees
- EU Affairs Committee chaired by Paul CARY
- Agents' Committee chaired by Jean-François MOSSINO
- Brokers' Committee chaired by Roger VAN DER LINDEN
Permanent Secretariat team
- Nic DE MAESSCHALCK, Director
- Isabelle AUDIGIER, Legal Director
- Rebekka DE NIE, EU Policy Manager
- Zoé VAN HAMME, European Affairs Policy Advisor
- Katrien VANDECASTEELE, Office & Event Manager
- Aruna MANICKAM, Translator/Communication assistant
A bit of history ...
An international Congress of insurance and reinsurance brokers was held in Paris in July 1937. Representatives from 20 insurance intermediary associations from around the world attended. The aim of the Congress was to highlight the leading role played by brokers and agents in the insurance industry, to share knowledge and to enable intermediaries from different countries to cooperate and support each other. It was in this context and on the initiative of the President of the French Association of Insurance and Reinsurance Brokers (Syndicat français des courtiers d'assurances et de réassurances - SNCA), Mr Joseph Grzybowski, that the participants at the 1937 Congress unanimously approved the creation of BIPAR, the "Bureau International des Producteurs d'Assurances et de Réassurances" (International Bureau of Insurance and Reinsurance Producers). Mr Grzybowski asked BIPAR to act as a link and mutual aid organisation for all insurance producers and their professional associations.
The first BIPAR Congress was held in Liège in June 1939, under the auspices of the Federation of Professional Unions of Insurance Agents and Brokers of Belgium. Representatives from a dozen countries participating in this Congress agreed that the profession of insurance broker should be officially regulated in all countries. On 14 December 1945, the BIPAR General Council adopted a declaration stating that insurance could only function properly at international level and that permanent links between insurance producers in all countries of the world were therefore necessary.
The first BIPAR General Assembly was held in Paris in November 1947. In 1989, under the presidency of Belgian Henri Van Duynen, the BIPAR General Secretariat moved from Paris to Brussels.
In its 88 years of existence, BIPAR has acquired unique knowledge of European public affairs. Thanks to its current extensive network of members (48 national associations in 32 countries), BIPAR is able to inform its member associations and European intermediaries of important market developments and to promote and defend their interests.
Due to globalisation and the growing importance of European affairs for all European intermediaries, BIPAR decided in early 1999 to deal exclusively with European issues and to create, in cooperation with regional structures on other continents, the World Federation of Insurance Intermediaries (WFII - World Federation of Insurance Intermediaries), to which it delegated its international activities related to the WTO, OECD, IAIS, etc.
Today, BIPAR's primary mission is to create a European regulatory environment that is favourable to insurance intermediaries while ensuring fair competition and an adequate level of consumer protection.