As well as reacting to the economic turmoil, we have to carry on running Gibson Lamb too. It’s our business year end on 31st March so I’ve been getting the accounts in order, and one of our crucial (and obligatory) insurances – Professional Indemnity – comes up for renewal on 31st March as well.
Having submitted our proposal form in January, it’s been getting every more worrying that we hadn’t received terms given there is less than a week to go. They finally arrived yesterday but did not make for good reading. Unfortunately market conditions mean that the policy includes several new terms and conditions which, cutting a long story short, mean that we are self-insuring a substantial part of the risk from now on.
We’re only a small company and we don’t have unlimited resources, unlike say a bank or the national financial advisory firms. Such changes make a real difference to the amount of reserves we’re obliged to keep in order to comply with the Regulators capital adequacy requirements.
Having to keep more capital in the firm at a time when revenue is falling is not ideal. Fortunately, we can meet the requirements that apply from next week so we can carry on trading! PHEW!!!
My team have been amazing this week, moving significant amounts of (electronic) paper to get things done. I’m still way behind on things I need to do, but it isn’t through lack of trying or hours worked.
I will wrap up with a heart-warming tail of one of our wonderful clients, who took the time to check in and ensure that we were all okay. Nothing to do with their portfolio, or their concerns about next years income or whatever. The enquiry was purely to make sure Team Gibson Lamb was okay. It’s things like that which keep us going in these difficult times…