If nothing ever goes wrong in your financial life – you’ve received the most appropriate advice, you’ve placed your capital with a company that always treats you right, you’ve been warned about all the risks involved, been allowed to make up your mind in your own good time and you’re totally satisfied with what you’ve done, then dealing with a fully regulated insurance broker is like having a parachute or a life vest when the plane doesn’t crash or the ship doesn’t sink. It is only if things go wrong that you need the security of having dealt with a licensed adviser. The real value comes when something does go wrong.

Regulated brokers in Spain must carry a minimum level of Professional Liability Insurance.  This ensures that, in the event of a regulated brokerage giving negligent advice which causes a financial loss to the client, that client can make a claim against the insurance carrier.  In OMM’s case the insurance carrier is REALE, and we currently hold cover of 1,500,000 €.  A copy of the policy document can be viewed here along with a copy of our authorisation from the DGS.

Unregulated advisers
Now just because someone is unregulated does not automatically mean you will get bad or negligent advice.

However you should be aware that if no-one is supervising their activities, or has vetted them in the first place, you will have no idea if the advice received is the most appropriate solution available and independently selected.

Furthermore, in the event of anything going wrong, you need to be aware that it is impossible for unregulated brokers to obtain professional liability insurance to cover their activities and protect their clients.