Analysis of the Role of Insurance Marketplace Standards Association(IMSA)

The Insurance Marketplace Standards Association (IMSA) is a voluntary, non-profit organization, founded in the U. S. A in 1996 to increase understanding and compliance to ethical standards in the U. S life insurance industry. IMSA has been challenged for survival because of perception of IMSA assessments by insurers as an additional regulatory burden, voluntary nature of IMSA membership, IMSA's inability of marketing its functions and goals, lack of a clear value proposition of IMSA, lack of confidence in IMSA's system by insurers and increasing complexity of insurance products and dealers to hinder uniform ethical standards. However, IMSA can achieve its goals and objectives to improve ethical business conduct if it could strengthen its value proposition, improve market awareness by related parties and expand consumer representation in its decision-making process. In addition, if IMSA's membership could be integrated with other initiatives, it could improve the level of ethics in the U. S insurance industry.